Silver and Gold
by PageTurner456
Summary: The Gods are weird, and make strange choices. So why in the world would they throw a completely normal girl into a world she knows nothing about?
1. Prologue

**Yo. This is one of my first stories I'm publishing. This is a learning experience for me and I would love some constructive criticism.  
I hope you enjoy my story.**

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Two figures stood in front of a pool of shining crystal water. The pool did not seem to have a source, in fact it looked like it was floating in midair. The figures too looked to be standing on something the eye could not behold.

The first figure, a woman, seemed to be blending into the surrounding darkness. In fact, there was almost no boundary between the two, save for the millions of tiny twinkling lights on her dress and in her hair. The woman's hair seemed to be defying gravity, as if it was caught in an eternal breeze. Holding back part of her bangs was what looked to be a large shining star. On her hip was a large circular ornament. It was a silver color, was fairly worn in places, and shadows slowly consumed it. The hem of her dress, like her hair, faded into the inky black void.

Standing beside her was a man. Where the woman radiated the coolness of night, the man exuded the heat of a mid-summer day. While the darkness seemed to welcome the woman, it shrunk back in fear from the man. His skin was a golden tan, and his clothing rippled as fluffy cotton ball clouds moved along the sky-blue fabric. On the man's belt was a glowing orb that shone brighter than his smile.

While the man's eyes seemed to be made of gold, the woman's eyes were pure silver. Both pairs of eyes shone with omnipotent power. Gold and Silver watched the pool with intense interest.

In the pool images flickered by at an alarming speed. Pictures of people from every time and every dimension. The images were only there for a fraction of a second before disappearing. But despite this the pair seemed to have no trouble keeping up with the pool.

Suddenly the woman's eyes widened and the pool stopped on the image of a baby girl. There was nothing special about this child, she was a normal tiny, squishy, new born baby.

"Her." The woman of darkness spoke. Her voice was smooth and calm.

"You just had to pick a human from a different dimension, didn't you?" the man of light said irritably. "You do realize we protect that dimension at the moment, right?" He pointed towards a small yin-yang symbol.

The starlit figure nodded. "Yes Helios. I do realize that. And when the time is right I will bring my champion over." Helios seemed satisfied with that answer. The woman gave her companion a mischievous smile. "I see you have yet to choose your champion, my dear."

Helios rolled his eyes and replied, "Oh please we both know there are few mortals able to properly wild our powers. And I am perfectly fine with letting you take him." The woman raised an eyebrow at him. "Fine, I'll use him. Selene, you do also realize that granting her the ability to use your power will be just as difficult as transferring her between realms, correct?"

Selene rolled her eyes at this comment. "Of course I realize that, but she is the only mortal strong enough for this. She has real potential, and I would hate to see such potential squandered in a world like that." Then she rested her head on his shoulder, continuing to gaze into the pond, "It's only a matter of time my love. Only a matter of time."


	2. Deserted

**I have the first couple of chapters already written, and I wanted to get them up quickly. I hope you enjoy.**

 **:D**

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Artemis was completely screwed. Apparently staying up until four in the morning three nights in a row, with a collective two hours of sleep and lots of caffeine, was bad for you. But Artemis did not care. She would be damned if anything kept her from studying for her finals tomorrow. It also didn't help that she had two majors along with a plethora of other classes.

Such is the life of a college student.

Artemis had always been an overachiever, or at least she had always been incredibly smart. She had been pushed all her life to do well. That included skipping middle school and going straight to high school. Being an eleven-year-old surrounded by tall, intimidating teenagers was terrifying. Until she realized that she could tutor the starting quarterback in algebra.

The only real contact Artemis had with children her age was softball. And she got incredibly competitive, so that just seemed to scare the other girls away.

Her parents weren't the best, as they focused more on their careers more than their only child. This caused the young girl to strive for her parent's attention. Artemis was determined to get straight A's and play on the high school softball team. By her senior year, she had accomplished both things along with being valedictorian, being captain of the softball team, and getting accepted into a very prestigious University. To congratulate her, the fourteen-year-old got a pat on the head from her mother and a lecture from her father on why she should become a doctor.

Artemis studied to become a teacher. Over the years, she found that she was particularly good with explaining how things where done and how you do them. Many of the students she tutored commented on how great of a teacher she was. Chemistry had also been a passion of hers, so she had decided to study that as well. Now after four long years of hard work, she was almost done. Just a week of tests and then she would be free. But luck was not on her side.

The eighteen-year-old sat on her dorm room bed, staring intently at a chemistry text book. Her roommate, Heather, had been gone for at least three hours and she was thankful for the peace and quiet. Artemis had long sense run out of coffee and energy drinks, and sleep was finally starting to win the battle.

* * *

Sleepy silver eyes began to blink open. The harsh sunlight disturbing the teenagers much needed sleep, and momentarily blinding her as she continued to wake up. Whatever she was laying on felt like a rock and needed to burn in hell for being so uncomfortable.

Once Artemis's eyes had adjusted to the blinding light, she sat up and looked around. Her eyes widened. Surrounding her was a dusty, rock filled desert. Above her was the clear blue sky and a few wispy clouds. There was a faint breeze in the air that did nothing to combat the stifling heat.

Artemis began to panic. Why was she in the freaking desert? How did she even get here, there weren't any deserts near her University? Had Heather decided to pull another prank on her? If she had, it wasn't funny. She had undoubtedly missed her chemistry final. When Artemis found her, she was going to rip Heather's head off.

The now stranded teenager stood up. Luckily, she had been wearing her bunny slippers when she had fallen asleep. They didn't offer to much of a barrier between the ground and her feet, but they would okay for now. Until they eventually wore out. Her navy-blue sweatshirt and long sleep pants would become a problem in the heat though.

Artemis looked around, her shoulder length brunette hair shifting with the breeze. In one direction was a large mountain range, in the other she could make out the faint silhouette of a city. She sighed in relief, at least she wasn't completely out of luck.

The teenager then took the first step of long trek towards the city.


	3. Friendly Faces

**I hope you enjoy :D**

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After what felt like a million years, but was probably only an hour and a half, Artemis came upon a road. It consisted of only two lanes, and luckily for her it headed towards the city. There were no cars on the road, but hopefully one would drive by so she could catch a ride.

Another hour of torturous heat and walking passed by. Her feet were killing her, and the bunny slippers she had been wearing had lost all cushion in them from walking on the uneven ground. Artemis didn't dare walk on the black asphalt, fearing that the heat would burn through her slippers and would proceed to injure her feet. Sweat was dripping into her eyes, and her now moist clothing clung to her body. Artemis would have taken off her sweatshirt but the only thing underneath it was her bra. Even if there was nobody around, she wasn't going to risk her modesty or a terrible sun burn.

The city appeared to be getting no closer, and Artemis was beginning to lose hope. Her three days of no sleep were finally catching up to her, along with the effects of caffeine withdrawal. Her head was pounding, and it felt as if a knife was stabbing her right between her eyes. The suns' light had magnified and only caused her headache to get worse. Artemis's stomach had started to protest movement about ten minutes ago, the only thing keeping her going was the thought of a nice cup of coffee.

 _Preferably ice coffee,_ she thought with a smile.

Suddenly, Artemis heard the sound of a motor. She turned around to see a large silver car racing down the road. To her surprise, it began to slow down. The car looked like it came straight out of the twenty's and crashed right into the 2000's. The occupants looked almost just as out of place as the car. They were an older couple, with grease stained clothing, smile creases, and old fashioned leather helmets.

"Well hi there." The woman was the one to speak. "Do ya' need a ride?"

Artemis almost felt like crying. "Yes please."

The man driving smiled, "Well then hop in." Artemis nodded and climbed into the backseat. Once she has seated herself on the red leather, they continued their journey.

The woman turned around and smiled at the teen. "So, what's your name dear?"

"Artemis Holt, ma'am"

"Oh, you can just call me Edna, and that's my husband Ed." She pointed to the fellow who was driving. "So where are you headed Artemis?"

"Err... I don't really know." She smiled sheepishly. "I actually have no clue where I am, at the moment."

"Oh." Edna seemed surprised. "Well Hun, right now we're in the outskirts of the Sea of Sands." Seeing her confusion Edna went on. Pointing towards the city skyline, she continued. "That's Ninjago City."

The name was vaguely familiar, Artemis had no idea where she had heard it from. What she did know is that there were no cities with that name in the U.S. So essentially, Artemis was screwed.

Something in her brain must have still been working after her long trek, because suddenly something clicked. Artemis might be in a different dimension. She had read about the multi-verse theory before and for some reason this made the most sense. Maybe her aching brain was jumping to conclusions, maybe she wasn't in a different dimension at all and this was just some elaborate prank. But what Artemis did know is that this would all make sense after a nice long nap.

"The name sounds familiar, but other than that I still have no clue where I am." Artemis placed her hands on her head and leaned back into the seat. The wind felt so good in her hair. "I haven't slept in three days, and I've been walking for forever with a migraine." The back of her silver eyes began to burn. "I have absolutely no clue where I am," a few tears began to fall. "And all I want to do is go home." The tears began to flow freely now.

"Oh Hun." Edna placed a hand on the teenager's knee. She glanced at her husband. The two looked to be having a silent conversation. A moment later they both nodded.

"Say, Artemis, ever sense our son moved out we've had an extra room. Why don't you stay with us for a few days so you can recover?" Ed smiled at her through the rear-view mirror.

She wiped her eyes, "I really shouldn't. You hardly know me and-" She was cut off by Edna.

"Hun, you are exhausted. And we insist that you stay with us for at least one night." Her voice had changed into an intense motherly tone. Artemis had hardly heard that tone in anybody, let alone her own mother. All she could do in response to it was nod. "Good we'll be there soon, you just rest up."

* * *

After ten minutes of driving, they pulled into a junkyard. The sign above the entrance read ' _Ed and Edna's Scrap n' Junk.'_

Edna turned and smiled at her again, "This is the place Hun."

The whole place was filled with towers of scraps and some very ridiculous looking parts. There were plenty of broken down machines, including a rusting helicopter and a wrecking ball. By the base of one of the scrap piles was a trailer. It had a small multi-colored awning in front of the door, and some Christmas lights hanging off the side.

After the car was parked, Ed said that he was going to go work on a project, while Edna lead Artemis into their home. With her exhausted mind, she couldn't take in much of her surroundings. But from what she could tell, the front door opened to a kitchen, dining, and small living space. To her left were three doors, two were for the bedrooms and the other was for the bathroom. Edna offered to lend her a pair of pajamas while she washed Artemis's clothing. She gratefully accepted her offer. A few minutes later Artemis was wearing an old t-shirt and some sleep pant. Then she was in a small room and passed out on the nearest object.


	4. Stranger Danger

**The second half of this chapter was really hard to write for some reason. But I'm really proud of the first half, along with how long it is.**

 **I hope you enjoy :D**

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Surrounding the pool of crystal water was nothing but darkness. The water shone like the sun, creating a sort if beacon. Then suddenly four figures appeared. They were all male, and they all radiated power.

The first had skin black as coal, but his amber eyes shone like fire. His toga however actually consisted of fire, as did his hair. The red flames constantly trying to consume him. Beside him was a lion. Its black fur and flaming mane matched its master.

The second was completely made of stone, the features of his face seemingly chiseled. He wasn't wearing a shirt, which showed off his impressive muscles. There were a few cracks on here and there on his skin, acting almost like scars. Moving alongside him was a large king cobra, the earth acting as its scales, shifting like tectonic plates. The serpent was also sporting a large pink bow on the back of its head. Both the man's and the snake's eyes were both a deep dark brown.

The third man looked ready to close a very prestigious business deal. His hair was storm cloud gray, and his eyes were an electrifying blue. His tie though was made purely out of electricity. On his shoulder was a mass of lightening, but upon closer inspection it was in fact an eagle. Unlike his tie, were contained and orderly, the bird's electricity was sparking and flashing all over the place.

The last man was Helios, the God of the sun, day, and gold. Behind him was a massive golden dragon. It seemed barely corporal, as if it were mage completely out of sun light. Helios smiled at the Gods around him. They nodded back in respect.

Silence.

"So, Jupiter how's Cymopolia?" asked the stone deity, attempting to make friendly conversation.

"I wouldn't know, now would I. Not after a thousand years of being here." Jupiter said sarcastically.

Helios glared at him, "We all agreed to that deal."

Xiuh snorted, "Yeah and we wouldn't have needed to if it weren't for you and Selene."

The Sun god bristled and took a step closer to the fire deity, "Leave my wife out of this."

"Will you idiots please be quiet!" a feminine voice came from the darkness.

Out of the darkness emerged two women. One was Selene; the Goddess of the moon, night, and silver, the other was the personification of winter. Her skin was ice blue, and snowflakes decorated it. Her snow-white dress was decorated with delicate designs created entirely of ice. Her long white hair left a trail of snow in its wake. Her pale blue eyes sharp and alert. The animal walking to the right of her was a polar bear made entirely from powdered snow. Its eyes and nose made from ice.

The six Gods and their familiars stood around the pool.

Jupiter smiled kindly at the woman of ice, there was a noticeable hit of sarcasm in his voice. "Always a pleasure to see you, Skadi." She rolled her eyes. He turned to Selene, "Where is Argentum?"

"He is running an errand for me," Answered the calm voice of the night.

There was a long awkward pause.

"So, our champions are finally starting to come to- "Helios was cut off by Xiuh.

"What do you mean finally? Ours- "He pointed at Jupiter, Skadi, Atlas, and himself, "have already joined forces. While yours has just been creating problems."

Helios glared at the God of fire. "He has been living in the shadow of his father his whole life. He is a good kid at heart."

Xiuh was about to continue to argue with the Sun God when Skadi stopped him from speaking. "We know Helios, and we don't object to your choice." She glared at the flaming god. "Our only concern is the fact he is releasing the serpentine."

"What do you have against snakes Skadi?" Atlas said defensively, the cobra slowly poising itself to strike.

"Nothing, they just tend to cause problems." Skadi shot back.

"No, you just don't trust anything that can't survive a blizzard," Accused Jupiter.

"Like you don't do the exact same thing Sparky." Helios jeered darkly.

"At least my champion hasn't released half of the serpentine!" Xiuh accused.

Atlas shot back, "No yours is just an egotistical ass hat."

That's when all hell broke loose. The shouting match between the Gods rose to a point where no one could tell who was saying what. Their Familiars began to take defensive positions around their masters. The air was charged with electricity, hot and cold were at war to win dominance in the room. More cracks began to form on Atlas, and the sky on Helios began to darken with his anger.

"Enough."

One simple word from the night was able to prevent all-out war between the Gods. Selene hadn't moved from her position in between Skadi and Helios, not fearing the massive amounts of power radiating from all around her. She looked at each of them in turn with a calm expression before speaking.

"I understand that we may not get along, as many of us counteract another, but if our champions can get along then so can we. Now if you would all be so kind; my champion is about to meet everyone." Selene turned her head down to stare at the picture in the pool.

* * *

Artemis was currently walking through a candy-cane forest in Candy Land, eating a smiling chocolate bar. Different types of candy people frolicked around her spouting out random word. She was content.

Suddenly a wolf made entirely of stars jumped out from behind a cotton candy bush, jumping straight at Artemis. She jerked back, and fell off the bed.

Artemis groaned and rubbed her head. She looked around and realized she was in an unfamiliar room. After panicking for half a second about what she had done last night, she remembered the events from yesterday, and sighed with relief. She took this moment of relief to look around the room

It was small and simple. The walls were a pale blue and a few posters covered them. Above the plain bed was a window, the light told her that it was at least late morning. Next to her was an old dresser with tons of nick-knacks and other things on top of it. On the corner of the dresser were her clothes, neatly folded, and now clean. She grabbed them and quickly put them on, glad to be back in the familiar fabric. After folding the borrowed clothing and making the bed, she left the bed room.

The living space was small, cozy, and felt lived in. The couch was well used and had a few grease spots on it. The kitchen appliances were old and chipped with use. On the wall were wonderful family photos. There was a large window above the couch, the blinds closed.

There was a loud bang outside, and then lots of shouting. Something was happening out there, probably a fight from all the shouting. Artemis was tempted to look out the window to see what was going on, but she stopped herself. She raced back into the bedroom and opened the window. Luckily it opened to the back of the trailer. After clumsily climbing out, she followed the base of the scarp pile. Artemis found a metal pole along the way, she grabbed it just in case she needed a weapon, and held it like a she would a softball bat.

As she rounded the base of the pile she came across a person, or at least what she thought was a person. The thing was covered in red and white scales. There were intricate designs on the front of its body. But the strangest thing about it was the fact it had the head of a snake. Artemis had seen a creature that looked somewhat like this before, when she was younger.

A split second later a figure was flung into a nearby scrap pile. Artemis saw what looked to be a red ninja suit, and spiky brown hair.

That's when it all clicked.

"No…" she said to herself. The snake man turned toward her, having heard. The teenager came out of her hiding spot, still repeating 'no' over to herself. The snake man saw Artemis and began to stalk towards her. The red ninja tried to warn the girl about the serpentine, but his warning fell on deaf ears. Once the snake was close enough, Artemis swung the pole.

"NO!" She screamed. The pole hit its target square in the jaw, effectively breaking it. The Red ninja was up now and tried to calm the girl down, but sadly he became the next target. Each time she hit him it was punctuated with a loud "NO!" Luckily, she was mostly aiming for his torso.

"Yo! Kai! What's going on?"

Artemis turned towards the new voice. There was another, and this one was wearing blue. She immediately changed her target, still screaming "NO!" Once her swings had become slower, the blue ninja managed to grab the pole and yank it out of her hands. Before she could start throwing punches, a pair of strong arms restrained her.

The crazed girl struggled to get loose. She must have done something right because the man released her with a gasp of pain. Artemis raced away and headed for the large clearing at the front of the scrap yard.

Once there, she saw what she most feared at that moment. The ninjas were fighting snake people, and machines that looked to have turned in to snakes. She saw an incredibly old man holing a bow-staff yelling at someone, along with Ed and Edna who were slowly turning into snake people.

There was a hand on her shoulder a moment later; she didn't hear a word they said. None of this made sense. How could she be here? How did she even get here? The world around her began to spin. A second later Artemis had passed out.

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 **Jupiter is the Roman god of thunder**  
 **Xuih is short for Xiuhtecuhtli- he is the Aztec God of Fire**  
 **Atlas is the titan cursed to forever hold up the sky in Greek and roman mythology**  
 **Skadi is the Norse goddess of winter  
Cymopolia is the goddess of violent storms **


	5. Denial

**This chapter was hard for me to write in the beginning. But I think it turned out okay.**

 **Reviews are much appreciated.**  
 **I hope you enjoy :D**

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Artemis woke up in a strange room. She was lying on a cot starring up at the ceiling. The room smelled like a disinfectant wipe, as if it were trying to be a hospital. Based on her peripheral vision (she refused look anywhere but up), Artemis could tell that the room was made entirely out of wood. She could also hear the quiet murmurings of a whispered conversation nearby.

After taking a deep breath to calm her fried nerves, Artemis sat up. In a nearby corner she saw a now human Edna talking to a young woman. She had straight black hair that came down to her shoulders; she wore a red Chinese style dress, and chocolate brown eyes. When the two noticed that Artemis had sat up, they rushed to her side.

"Are you feeling okay?" The young woman asked. Artemis just stared at her. She had to ask the question twice more before getting a response from the disoriented teen.

"What's going on?" Artemis questioned.

The woman started to explain, "You passed out at the scrap yard, so we brought you here, The Destines Bounty, so that you would be-" she was cut off by Artemis standing up and heading towards the door.

"No…" the teen murmured to herself. She left the medical room in hopes of finding a better answer. There as one long hallway outside the door. In one direction, there were a few more doors, in the other there where stairs leading upwards towards light. She went that direction.

She came out to the deck. All she saw was that it was large and empty. Artemis looked around the structure behind her; she soon spotted a door along the side of it. Luckily, she had barged into the bridge and not just a random room. Unfortunately, the two older women had been following her.

The men inside all turned at the sound of the door. They were surprised to see Artemis glaring murderously at all of them (except Ed). The two who had been on the receiving end of her wrath, only an hour ago, were a bit warier of her the girl than the others.

After a long strenuous silence, she finally spoke.

"Who are you?" she asked this question as if she already knew the answer.

"We're the ninj-" The red one, who had been brave enough (or stupid enough) tried to answer, but he was cut off.

"I wasn't asking you Man-ime!" She yelled at the crazy haired man. He turned to look at friends; silently questioning them about the name she had called him. They shrugged back at him.

"Then who were you asking?" the oldest man asked quietly.

She clutched her head, trying to block them out of her view. Nothing about this made sense. She was on a flying ship, surrounded by cartoon characters, and the fact that she could be in different dimension didn't help.

"I don't know" she said quietly. Once again Artemis ran out the door in hopes of finding answers. Once she was out on the deck again, she thought about places she could hide. Below deck would be too confined, and she wouldn't be able to see the sky. Looking around, she was finally able to take in her surroundings. There was a single mast that somehow sported two sails. Then she saw the bow of the ship. It was the perfect spot. She would be protected on all sides except her front, and she would be able to see the crazy coming if it decided to follow her. She wedged herself as far into the corner as she could, and brought her knees up to her chest. She closed her eyes, and rested her head on her knees, effectively turning in to a ball. Maybe if she ignored everything around her, it would turn out this had all been a dream.

Of course, this had all been a dream, it had to be. How in the world would she have traveled dimensions, and why the hell would this even be one? Why would she even dream about this anyway? It was a stupid cartoon about Lego mini figures that she hadn't even seen sense she was about twelve. She also had no idea why they looked like actual people in her dream either.

Artemis heard someone come up and sit down beside her.

"You have been sitting here for quite a while." It was the old man, the sensei dude. She tried not to acknowledge him. "The others are beginning to worry about you. Ed and Edna have explained to us how they found you yesterday, and your confusion to where you are." She cringed as she remembered her brake down yesterday. "I am under the assumption that you are not exactly from around here."

This got her to speak. "In my world, this is all a cartoon show. You guys are animated toys and the plot that I remember is incredibly cliché."

"What do you remember about this?" He was obviously curious, but there was an underlining tone of suspicion in his voice.

Artemis sighed; she hadn't changed position to talk to him. "You guys need the green ninja, AKA the chosen one, to defeat some super terrible dude or whatever."

"Hmm" he was silent for a moment before he stood up. "Sense you seem to need some time to adjust, I will relay the information you have told me to the others, so that they know your peculiar circumstance." He left a moment later, leaving the distressed teen alone with her thoughts.

Though she was still in complete denial about being here, Artemis searched her mind for anything pertaining to Ninjago. After remembering a few major plot points (such as who the green ninja was, and that the one in white was a robot. She planned to keep them to herself.), she began to remember names. Artemis refused to use them. That would make them real, and she did not want that. The old man was officially dubbed Dumbledore, because of his nonsense words of wisdom. The young woman was Zelda, she gave you all the information that you needed to complete your quest. The guy with shaggy black hair and who was about a foot taller than her was Sasquatch. The super pale blonde was dubbed Frozone, and the last one was Flash. She decided that anime hair guy would continue to be called Man-ime.

During her period of desperate thought, Zelda had told her that they would be dropping off Ed and Edna at their scrap yard later that day, and that she was welcome anywhere on the ship. As the day slowly turned to night Artemis finally began to relax. She looked up at the sky to examine the stars, though they were not the same from her world, they still provided some comfort. The darkness seemed to surround the teen like a blanket, and the light of the crescent moon seemed to be providing her with the resolve to not jump off the ship to see if this was really a dream.

Dumbledore had approached her once again, and like last time sat down next to her.

"It's a beautiful night, isn't it?"

Artemis took a deep breath, reviling in night air. "Yeah it is." She paused, waiting for Dumbledore's words of wisdom, but he said nothing, so she continued. "All of the stars are different here. I don't recognize any of the constellations." Those words caught in her throat. Artemis had always been able to pick out constellations no matter where she was. It was second nature for her to look towards the sky and find where different shades of darkness met each other. She could almost feel the way the moon caused the tides to shift. As different as this place was, it seemed the feeling of the night was a constant.

After a few moments, Dumbledore began to speak. "I have told the others, and they have mixed feelings." She snorted at this. "But despite this I think it would be beneficial for you to stay with us for the time being."

She instantly turned to face him. "You know how to get me home." He nodded, staring back into her silver eyes. Artemis narrowed them assessing the man in front of her. Wise, old eyes stared back, and from this gaze she deemed him trust worthy. "Fine, I'll stay."

"Good, because we dropped off Jay's parents ten minutes ago," Wu chuckled at her shocked expression. As he stood up he said, "Now I suggest we both attend dinner."


	6. Adjusting

**I hope you enjoy :D**

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Dinner was a strained affair. They tried to make pleasant conversation by asking Artemis questions, but she would just answer with a few words and they would be trapped in silence again. What she did notice about her company was that all of them, except Wu and Frozone, had probably never heard of the concept of table manners.

Afterwards, Zelda had shown Artemis to the room they would both be sharing, and lent her some clothing for the next day too. She explained that they would be stopping by the city so that they could get Artemis some clothing. This caused Nya to receive a large hug from the teen. The two then spent a couple of hours talking and getting to know each other.

Over the next week, Artemis got into a nice routine. She would wake up early, since she was still running off her college schedule (wake up at 6, get ready, get breakfast with friends, and then classes) she would go and make coffee. Nya would join her a few minutes later and they would make breakfast together. Then after the boys had finished their sunrise exercises, they would all eat.

Following the routine as usual, Artemis was in the kitchen sitting on one of the counters enjoying her first cup of coffee before having to start on breakfast. And since coffee was one of the few things keeping her sane, Artemis knew she wasn't hallucinating when she saw Sasquatch walk in. Normally she wouldn't be bothered by his appearance, but this time he was not wearing a shirt. He had not seen her yet, as he was probably still waking up, and went straight for the coffee maker.

Artemis had never seen a shirtless guy in person before, so naturally she turned tomato red and stared down at her coffee. She prayed to God that he wouldn't notice her.

"Oh, hey, Artie."

Shit. Now she had to speak to the very muscular shirtless male in front of her. So, of course the first thing out of her mouth was a squeak. She immediately cleared her throat, surprising even herself with the words that came out of her mouth.

"Good morning Cole." The ninja instantly choked on his coffee mid-sip. His nearly black eyes widened and he rushed out of the room.

Artemis had expected this reaction. A few days ago, she had a chat with Flash about the nicknames. She had explained that she would be using them until she could prove that the guys were actual people. An hour later, all of them were doing stupid thing to prove to Artemis that they were in fact, real. She had no idea why they would be doing this so obsessively until Nya had explained that they had made a bet. Whomever was deemed real first got to be the Green Ninja. Artemis was completely sure that it was Man-ime's idea. And since half of them were about as mature as five-year old's, she would soon be bombarded with whining grown men.

Nya came in a few moments later asking why Cole had run down the hallway looking like an idiot. Artemis explained, and the two proceeded to discuss who would run in first while they started breakfast. And of course, Man-ime came bursting through the kitchen door, shirtless, and with a very determined look on his face.

He proceeded to lean on the door frame, and casually said, "Hey Artemis."

After an intense staring match between silver and amber eyes, Artemis looked away and deadpanned, "Go put a shirt on Man-ime."

His head fell and he walked away defeated.

* * *

Later that day the guys had been called to deal with an emergency. Apparently, somebody thought it was a good idea to attack a school. While this disturbed Artemis greatly, she knew that if she even thought about going along to help, she would be a major distraction for the guys. Luckily, Wu and Nya had already planned to follow with the Bounty.

When the ship arrived at its destination, Artemis saw three people on the roof. One of which was Flash, he had probably cornered the other two. The largest one was a terrifying purple Serpentine, the only human part of it was the torso, where two scaly arms resided. The last person was a child. Though much of his face was covered by a black hood, Artemis could see a terrified expression on it. A moment later the Purple Guy disappeared, and Flash grabbed the kid. Minutes later they were all on the deck of the ship.

Artemis learned that the kids name was Lloyd, and he was Wu's nephew. His hood had fallen off exposing pale golden hair and maroon eyes. He was also about a head shorter than her. Seeing his exhausted eyes and sad expression, she immediately felt the need to protect him. So, that is exactly what she did.

"Now wait just a damn second." They all turned to see a practically murderous Artemis glaring at them. "So, from what I've gathered, you," she pointed at Wu, "Left an- how old are you?" She turned to Lloyd, her expression immediately softening.

"Err…. Elven." He was slightly put off by her instant change in mood.

"You left an elven year old kid, alone, after he was expelled from school. And other than you and his non-existent father, he has no other legal guardians." The ninja had never seen their sensei look this panicked before. Luckily, she didn't give him time to answer. "Since you people seem incapable taking care of a child, I'll do it for you." This surprised all of them.

"What do you know about taking care of kids?" Man-ime asked skeptically.

"I majored in education. I know what it's like to have distant parents, and to be honest I'd rather be helping Lloyd then doing nothing all day."

To avoid anymore of her wrath, the adults agreed to let Artemis take care of Lloyd. And of course, the eleven-year-old grumbled about not needing a baby sitter.

* * *

The next two weeks were spent teaching Lloyd. Although he complained in the beginning, his attitude towards Artemis changed drastically when she let him have ice cream for breakfast. After that they got along famously. The only thing that Artemis couldn't teach him was history, so that was left up to Wu.

Over those two weeks Artemis learned a lot about Lloyd. She learned that he had been expelled from his school for being too nice. That he had only released the Serpentine because the ninjas had been ass hats towards him. And it broke her heart that this sad kid would one day fight his father. All of this just made her want to protect him even more.

At the moment, she and Lloyd were both eating breakfast. They had both gotten a late start, so nobody else was eating. They had also agreed that they would be taking the day off.

"Hey Artie?" She rolled her eyes at the nickname.

"What's up Green Bean?" She replied after her sip of coffee, and Lloyd sighed at the sound of his.

"What was your family like?" His question was innocent enough, but it still surprised the teen. Despite not liking the question, Artemis still answered.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that my parents only had me to cross it off their bucket lists. And when I was five they got a divorce." Lloyd immediately noticed the change in her demeanor. Her silver eyes were downcast and had lost some of their spark. Parts of her hair now covered her face, and her grip on her coffee mug had tightened. "Once that happened, they avoided me like I was the plague. And like any child I tried to get their attention. But no matter what I did, it never worked. So, I eventually stopped trying." Her face was now completely covered by the shadows of her past, and Lloyd was regretting asking her this question. After a deep breath, her head was held high and Artemis was smiling again, though it looked a bit strained. "How about we go to the arcade today?"


	7. The Truth Hurts

**I'm sorry this is a short chapter, but if I had combined it with the next then it would have been far to long. It also didn't help that I had writers block while writing most of this chapter.**

 **I hope you enjoy :D**

* * *

This was the stupidest thing she had ever done. How had Lloyd even convinced her to do this? Oh yes, with those adorable puppy dog eyes of his.

Currently, Artemis and Lloyd were stow-aways in the luggage compartment of a charter bus full of Serpentine. While at first, he had wanted to disguise themselves as snake people, Artemis told him that they would be caught. So, they spent at least two hours in the dark compartment, trying not to hit their heads when they went over a bump.

After the bus, had stopped, Artemis made them wait an extra twenty minutes after all the Serpentine had gotten off. And of course, they were in the desert. But instead of being surrounded by sand, they were facing the ruins of an ancient city.

She turned to Lloyd, placing her hands on his shoulders and looking him dead in the eyes, "Listen. This is stupidly dangerous, so we stick together like glue. Got it?" Lloyd nodded furiously. "Good."

They then cautiously wandered in to the city. It was early evening, and the light was fading fast, so they were able to stick to the shadows. Though it didn't seem necessary, as there weren't any Serpentine to be seen. While at the edge of the city many buildings had completely crumbled, the further they traveled inward the more intact they became.

Soon they came upon a large Colosseum. The stands covered most of the circumference of it, but a portion of it was dominated by a gigantic snake statue. And apparently, they had found where the snakes where too.

Still sticking to the shadows, the two managed to peer inside of the arena where the stands ended. Inside they saw the four Serpentine generals fighting Pythor. And after a spectacular fight, and obvious cheating, the purple snake was declared the winner.

"Hey!" Artemis looked behind her to see couple of constrictai, who had probably been on patrol. The shout had earned the attention of everybody else too. Even knowing that there was no way out of this, Artemis still stood in front of Lloyd, trying to protect him. And, apparently, being a human shield meant getting punched in the face.

* * *

"Has anyone seen Lloyd or Artemis?" Wu asked at dinner.

The four ninja, and Nya, looked around the dining area, somehow just noticing the absence of the two.

Cole immediately turned to Kia, "You forgot to pick them up, didn't you?"

"I thought Jay was picking them up!"

* * *

Mental pain was an old friend to Artemis. It had been the bane of her existence in high school. Physical pain was like that random family member who visited every once and while, but left soon after they arrived.

She currently sat in an ancient cell, with Lloyd resting his head on her shoulder. Thankfully, he hadn't been hurt. Artemis could barely see out of her left eye, and blood still trickled from the cut on the same cheek. Her eye had gone numb an hour ago, but the cut still stung. Serpentine scales were not to be messed with. And while Lloyd slowly drifted to sleep, Artemis was trying to avoid a mental break down.

This was real.

Those three words drove her insane. How could this be real? She had definitely felt the scales of the serpentine connect with her face, the pain proved this wasn't a dream. But this could still be a hallucination. Artemis had probably just walked into something, and somebody would help get some sense into her. But why was there still this nagging sensation in the back of her mind, tell her that she was wrong?

Artemis remembered the hit to her face. It was defiantly a scaled hand that had hit her, nothing else. This wasn't a dream, nor a hallucination, this was real. And that scared her more than anything. She could die here. She _would_ die here. She would never go home again. She would never help kids in need.

This was it, the end of the line. At least she had Lloyd to keep her company.

 _Lloyd_. His name brought her back to reality. Lloyd needed her to stay sane. If she went over the edge he would be alone. And that would be unacceptable.

So, she started to recite algebraic formulas, the few things that she knew were real. And once she ran out of those she began humming.


	8. Red

**I'm sorry this chapter took so long, and that its short again. The chapters will get longer I promise. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed.**

 **Reviews are magical and they make me upload faster :D**

* * *

He hated the color red. It stained her face, and made her think she was invincible. She wasn't, so why did Artemis insist on taking every blow intended for him?

It had been a week of torture for Lloyd. All he had to do was look at her swollen face and he would be flooded with guilt. Her nose had been broken two days ago, when the Serpentine had tried to mess with him. Luckily, Artemis had been able to set it ("Thank God for first aide classes.") but now there was a cut across the bridge of it.

She was in pain, and Lloyd could tell, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.

At the moment, the two were being lead to what looked like a pyramid. In front of it was another large snake statue. Honestly, the decoration seemed like overkill to Lloyd. During the time in the sunlight the eleven-year-old seemed to regain some of his strength, while Artemis seemed to be shrinking away from the sun. But once inside, the darkness seemed to do the opposite.

The small group stopped only a few feet in, and Lloyd was inspecting a Serpentine statue when he heard a large rumble. He was suddenly grabbed by the scruff of his shirt and dragged forward. A second later he was deposited in front of Pythor and Scales.

In front of the group was a large pit, that had _definitely_ not been there before. Around the edges though there was a ledge just large enough for somebody to make their way across.

 _Oh_ , he gulped, and looked up at the glowering General.

"You will be crossing." hissed the Hypnobrai General.

Lloyd inched back. "No." He tried to keep his voice steady and confidant. The eleven-year-old was immediately picked up by the front of his shirt.

"HEY!" Lloyd turned his head to see Artemis struggling to get out of a Constrictai's grip, the cuffs on her wrists not dong her any favors. "PUT HIM DOWN!" While her small stature did nothing to make her any more intimidating, the glare from her one good eye was terrifying.

Pythor and Scales looked at each other, and both nodded. Scales dropped Lloyd, who landed on his butt, and motioned for the Constictai to bring Artemis forward. The cut on her cheek had opened from her yelling, red flowing once again.

Lloyd's heart began to pound.

Pythor smiled at him before slamming his golden staff into Artemis's head.

* * *

Artemis landed on the ground, her cuffed hands barely able to catch her. New pain blossomed in the right side of her face. She felt as blood began to flow from the new cut next to her temple. Her mind was rattled, there was hardly a coherent thought. All she could do was stare at the ground beneath her.

A split second later, pain erupted in her left foot. She heard a scream, it must have been hers. The pain was blinding, and tears began to fall on her already bloodied face. But all of this just grounded her to reality. This was real, which meant she had to protect Lloyd.

With that thought, she began to stand.

Artemis clutched the wall, desperate to keep her weight off her foot. From what she could see through the blood, the others were staring at her. Either in awe that she was standing, or marveling at her stupidity. The blood and tears dripping down her face probably making her look insane.

"I don't care what you do to me, but you will not hurt Lloyd." Her voice was shaky, but the look in her silver eye got the point across. After Artemis, had said what she had needed to, she let herself collapse.

* * *

She was back in the cell when she woke up. The pain in her foot had woken her. Without even looking at it, Artemis could tell that it was swollen. Dried blood still covered her face, and there was a dull ache by her right eye. This was defiantly the shittiest week ever.

Artemis looked around the cell. Her back was pressed up against the only solid wall, and a few strands of light fell through the tiny barred window above her. Artemis looked around with her one good eye and spied Lloyd sitting in the corner furthest from her. He was curled into a ball, his head resting on his knees.

"What are you doing Green Bean?" Her voice was hoarse from disuse, the cut on her cheek opening once more.

"Staying away from you." His voice was muffled. "You got hurt because of me."

Artemis sighed. "Lloyd come over here." She pat the ground next to her, and watched as the kid slowly moved to sit there. Once he was in the spot, Artemis wrapped her arm around him. "Lloyd, no matter what happens, I will never let them hurt you. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if they did." She squeezed him, taking comfort in his presence.


	9. Volcanoes Suck

Artemis was boiling.

Apparently some ancient Serpentine dude thought it would be a good idea to hide a knife in an active volcano. So of course the stupid snake people had dragged her and Lloyd along just to be tied up and probably used as bait if something happened.

The Snakes had the good sense to tie her arms down, and have more guards around her. Meanwhile, Lloyd was sitting in a metal cage that was ready to be dangled over the lava at any second. The teen kept a meticulously close eye on the idiots by his cage, and on Lloyd.

The heat wasn't helping her mood either. She was absolutely pissed that the Ninja had only made one rescue attempt, and that had been two weeks ago. Not to say she and Lloyd hadn't formed several escape plans already. Most just involved the simple fact that her foot wasn't broken, she could see out of both eyes, and Lloyd's willingness to leave her behind. Sadly none of that was possible.

Besides forming escape plans, the two had played numerous alphabet games, figured out which songs and movies were the same in both worlds, and slept. Sadly, Artemis had learned that her favorite musical, Hamilton, had no variation in this universe. So she had taken it upon herself to sing every line that she remembered (like many Hamilton fans, she had much of it committed to memory) until Lloyd had begged her to stop.

All around them Serpentine grunts shifted rocks and dug further in to the volcano. The earth around them did not seem to appreciate the intrusion, as it had begun to rumble angrily. Artemis hoped that this would be her first and last time in a volcano.

Suddenly, a shout grabbed everyone's attention. One of the grunts must have spotted something. For a brief second the Serpentine seemed hopeful, but then they realized that the grunt was pointing above them and not holding the stupid knife. All head looked upwards to see the Ninja, Sensei Wu, and a guy with four arms.

 _Finally!_ Artemis sighed and relaxed a little believing that luck was finally on her side.

Turns out luck actually hates her, as did the universe, and any other divine forces out there. General What's-His-Face from the Constrictai had decided that using her as a hostage was a great idea and decided to wrap himself around Artemis. Her arms were pinned to her side (though the right was at an odd angle), part of the assholes tail was resting on her broken foot, and it became much more difficult to breath.

Pythor, who was at the center of the volcano, was having a not to friendly exchange with the Ninja and friends. But because of the angry volcano noises Artemis couldn't hear a thing. It didn't matter too much for she was a bit preoccupied with the tail slowly tightening around her with each move the Ninja made. It didn't matter if it was a shift in their stance, or a whole step forward.

The conversation ended when Kai, ever the impatient one, jumped forward and decided to start the fight. This caused the Constrictai wrapped around her to immediately try and crush her. Pain immediately followed.

Artemis felt as several of her ribs broke, along with hearing the bones in her right arm snapping. A blood curdling scream erupted from her mouth. It took all of her strength not to pass out; she had to keep her eyes on Lloyd.

A few moments later, what's-his-face let go of the teen. She tried to catch herself, but not much of her body could actually move, so she landed face first on to the hot rock. Her release didn't do much to help the pain, in fact the change in position only made things worse. With her vision fading in and out, it was hard to see what had happed. A second later a pair of very muscular arms picked her up, causing a fresh wave of pain to roll over her.

Time seemed to like messing with her too, because it could have been a second or a hundred years before the injured teen was set down. Artemis opened her eye to see that she was finally back on The Bounty.

After a few moments of quiet, people started yelling and arguing. Something had happened, Artemis new that, she just couldn't remember what. Suddenly there was a deafening rumble, and everyone around her got quiet. Then everyone was super excited and cheering. Frankly all of this noise was too much for Artemis. Someone must have said something that resembled common sense, because soon everyone was panicking again, and about five faces were above hers.

Once again time was a bitch, and instead of five faces, it was one smiling calmly. Her position had changed again too, as she was much more comfortable.

Artemis took this as her cue to fall asleep.

* * *

The dream was a strange one.

Artemis wasn't necessarily there, she was viewing from afar. Yet she knew that she was the boy leading the group of children.

Her surrogate in this dream was smaller than most of the other children. He had a deep tan and platinum blond hair that was even fairer than Lloyds.

The children by his side were of various shapes and sizes but all distinctly human. A few little ones who wanted to lay with the big kids trailed behind, but they were vastly different. They had jet black skin, four arms, and just peeking out from their hair were tiny horns.

The adults milling about the streets, who parted patiently at the gaggle of younglings, were of a similar variety. Either looking completely human, or as alien as the smallest among them. Though their horns were much larger.

Though there was one glaring difference between the boy she followed and the people around him. While his eyes were a clear sky blue, everyone else's were shades of red.

While she followed, Artemis noticed something else about the community around her. There was a distinct lack of shirts among the male population. Even her boy lacked one. (thankfully they still wore pants) The women also wore less clothing. Everyone seemed to be showing off the scars they had earned. She even saw a few on her boy.

Another thing she noticed was that everyone had the same marking on their forearm. It was two curved lines that mirrored each other. That's all it might have been though, but the was the lines thickened and tapered off suggested something more.

Suddenly, the heard of children halted. Even the adults stopped in their tracks and immediately began to kneel on the ground.

All around her, Artemis heard voices murmuring in a clumsy unison, "Lord Thanatos."

Only one person remained standing, the boy she was following.

Before him stood the tallest man, Artemis had ever seen. Easily passing seven feet, even without the massive horns on his head. His black skin matched those around him and was nicely completed by deep read horns that matched the markings on everyone's arms. Numerous tusks jutted out from his mouth, unable to be contained.

This behemoth, like the people around him wore no shirt. Instead the he showed off the massive claw marks that raked down his chests, and the large burn wound on his upper most right arm. Across his face was a much more devastating wound that had long since healed. Across the right side of his face were claw marks. The longest gash running from midway up the right horn down to his collar bone. Another ran right over a clouded red eye.

What she found the strangest about him was his arms. His left side had three, while the right only had two. Artemis wondered what happened to the other one until she spotted the meager stump on his side. A stump that was so scared over it was hard to tell what it was.

"Takashi." His voice was a low rumble of thunder that chilled her bones and made Artemis fear for the boy's life.

The boy smiled, looking slightly embarrassed for some reason. "Hi dad."

The lord shifted, all five arms resting behind his back. "I wen to the training grounds expecting to find you there, instead I find you running about the city causing mischief. Why is that?"

The blue-eyed boy, she now knew as Takashi, laughed nervously. "Well Rin said that I've mastered all I can with only two arms and said there was no point in instructing me further. Honestly, I think I would learn more if I had a human teaching me."

His father nodded and brought a had up to his chin, looking thoughtful. "Hmm. Perhaps she is right, but shouldn't you have gone to practice your magic before running off?" Takashi sighed and looked downtrodden, he was about to apologize when his father spoke first. "But we can work on that later. For now, I think it is time you had your first proper hunt."

The behemoth smiled as his son gasped excitedly. After quickly saying goodbye to his friends, the Father and son walked off together.

Suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder and Artemis whipped around.

When she did the scene changed drastically. What had once been a thriving market street in the heart of the city, was now nothing more than ruins. The jungle that must have surrounded the city, finally having pierced through and completely taken over.

Before her stood Takashi. But it wasn't the young boy she had just been watching. He had grown significantly, and now stood well over a foot above her height. His platinum hair was still incredibly shaggy, but now it reached just past his shoulder. He wore gi that was loosely tied around his waist, which still exposed the new scars along his torso. One ear was also adorned with metal piercings of every kind.

His voice was as strong as his fathers, but perhaps, in a way, kinder. He was not as intimidating, but he still held himself like a lord.

"Leave this place," he said, "before you too are cursed."

* * *

 **Yo. Sorry for the impromptu hiatus. When i started this fic i thought i would be able to knock it right out and write like all of the time. But sadly i am human and get bored easily. So i had like, no motivation to write. But then i saw a very nice comment, and was immediately motivated to type up this chapter (luckily i had it all planed out).  
So the moral of the story is that reviews do help a ton.  
And thank you to all of the wonderful people who have followed this story :D**


	10. Healing

Artemis' eyes flicked open to see a multitude of white surrounding her. The white soon turned into grays and blues, and shapes began to form.

She saw her leg propped up with a cast around it. Her right arm however was also in a cast, but it kept her elbow bent and stopped at the middle of her upper arm.

Artemis looked around once again, realizing that she was in a Hospital room. Then she realized that she could almost see out of both eyes. She smiled at this, only to feel that the cuts on her face where still there, and still stung. So naturally, the teen quietly groaned in pain.

She then used her good hand to discover the condition of said cuts. Both the one on her check and temple had stitches, and she had a scab on the bridge of her nose. This meant that they would probably leave scars.

 _Cool, battle scars._ Artemis nodded her head, approvingly .

That's when she heard the quiet murmuring coming from across the room.

She looked over to see four people conversing quietly. Artemis smiled - the pain in her check returning - as she recognized them. It was Cole, Jay, Nya, and Lloyd.

"Yo, cartoon characters, I'm awake."

"ARTEMIS!" Lloyd whipped his head towards her, a huge smile plastered on his face. In about two steps, he had practically landed on Artemis, squeezing her in a tight hug. This caused the teen to suck in a breath, as the new pressure had aggravated her broken ribs. Noticing her discomfort, Lloyd quickly let her go and sheepishly said, "Sorry."

Artemis just smiled through the pain. "It's good to see you too Green Bean."

The others where now crowded around her bed, looking both happy and worried.

"So, how long was I out?" Artemis asked, fully expecting the answer to a few hours.

"Three days." Cole said.

Her expression must have been worrying, because Jay quickly added; "But don't worry, while you were out, we managed to steal all of the Fang Blades from the Serpentine. And the doctors said that once you woke up you would be discharged."

Her expression changed from distressed to just stressed and angry. If the heist had happed how she thought it did, someone was going to get hit with a metal pole. Artemis glanced over at Lloyd; he had a small bruise on his jaw. Scratch that, all of the Ninja would be getting hit with said pole.

"I think you're forgetting something!" Lloyd spoke up, glaring at Jay. He puffed out his chest and turned toward Artemis. "I'm the Green Ninja."

Artemis smiled once again, her face slowly becoming used to the action. "Why do you think I call you 'Green Bean'?"

The four balked at this.

"Wait, you knew!?" The blond exclaimed.

The teen nodded, "Yup, and I know that Zane is a robot-"

"We prefer the term Nindroid" Nya corrected her.

"There is no way in hell I am calling him that."

A nurse suddenly entered the room, effectively ending that conversation.

The older woman did her job and checked Artemis thoroughly. The others were quiet as she did so, and the nurse paid no attention to them. Once her work was done, she explained that she would be discharged in a few hours, and then promptly left the room.

Artemis glanced from the door to her friends and back again. "So why did she seem to hate you guys?"

"Well, when we brought you in, we didn't exactly tell them that you were captured by the Serpentine." Cole explained, looking rather uncomfortable as he did so.

"So we told them you fell down some stairs." Jay finished off lamely.

"Let me guess, they didn't believe you." Artemis asked, with a sarcastic tone to her voice.

The all shook their heads, confirming her statement.

"Especially when they saw you foot, and cuts. They said those were about a week old." Nya motioned to the offending injuries. "What exactly did you do?"

"I took every hit meant for Lloyd." Artemis deadpanned.

That made everyone shut up. The silence wasn't tense, or comfortable, everyone was just searching for something to say.

Finally Jay broke the ice.

"So why was Cole the first one to be real for you?"

Artemis laughed.

* * *

After a few hours of mindless chitchat, the nurse came back, this time with a crutch and a sling. Then forced the boys to leave the room, so she and Nya could help Artemis get actual clothes on, and out of the hospital gown she was currently wearing.

It took a while for Artemis to actually stand up properly and even longer to actually get her clothes on, even with the extra help.

After that ordeal was over, the nurse put her broken arm in the sling to hold it up properly. Then, explained that she would need the crutch for at least three or four weeks. The break wasn't that sever, but she shouldn't be putting too much weight on it too soon.

Afterwards, the five where back on the Bounty and Kai, Zane, and Wu had all come to greet them.

"Can we all agree that volcanoes suck, and never go to another one ever again?" Artemis practical pleaded.

Once again, the others shifted awkwardly.

"Err, well, we're on our way to another right now. Sorry." Kai explained, smiling uncomfortably.

Noticing her confusion, Zane further explained the situation. "This Volcano is hot enough to actually destroy the blades."

"What is this? Lord of the Rings?" the teen asked herself, but she just shook her head. "Well good for you guys, I'm going to get something to eat." She then hobbled off towards the stairs.

Suddenly they seemed to all regain their common sense and tried to persuade the small teen to let them help her.

Things were finally starting to look up for the ninja.

* * *

 **I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!  
** **Thank you to all of the wonderful reviews who go me back in to the grove of things.  
** **Shoutout to Rainbowaly03 and Catie Kuda! You guys rock :D  
Also I now have an actual character description of Artemis on my profile if you are interested.**


	11. Panic!

It had nearly been four hours since she had returned to the Destinies Bounty, and Artemis was already pissed off at how vigilant the ninja were. Any time the brunette tried to move, one of the guys would be there, asking if she needed anything. She had already hit Cole with her crutch when he tried to help her with the stairs, and proceeded to threaten the others whenever they appeared.

Currently, Artemis was sitting on her bed, her foot propped up and glaring angrily at it.

Those idiots didn't think she could do anything with these casts on. They thought she was helpless. Well she wasn't and Artemis would prove it! She would go and get a glass of water for herself!

She slowly began getting up, half expecting someone to come in and check on her. Once she had positioned her crutch accordingly, she stood up. It wasn't an easy task, as they were currently flying through a storm, and the ship was rocking back and forth. After a short internal victory dance, Artemis began the awkward march to the kitchen.

In the hallway stood her first obstacle, the Green Ninja. He stood frozen upon seeing Artemis out of bed and moving.

Artemis too had frozen at the sight of her small friend. He was wearing the Green Ninja gi. It was far too big for him, so the sleeves and pants were rolled up several times.

"You look adorable!" Artemis said with a large smile on her face and sparkling eye.

Lloyd however, stiffened and turned tomato red. "I'm the Green Ninja. I'm not adorable!" He exclaimed as he quickly entered the training room to escape further embarrassment. Artemis just smiled and continued on her journey.

It took her a while to actually get to the kitchen, she had to stop many times because of the rocking, but she finally made it. Artemis spent a while in the kitchen, reluctant to go back to doing absolutely nothing. Luckily they had just passed through the edge of the storm. So the trip back would be much easier than the last.

Artemis spent that time in the kitchen pondering why she felt like she was forgetting something. She remembered vaguely how season one of the show had ended. She also remembered that going to this new and very angry volcano was the start of it. She just couldn't remember what triggered everything to go downhill.

Nya's voice suddenly rang out from the P.A system: "Will everyone place their seats back and tray tables in the upright locked position. We have reached our destination; Torch Fire Mountain."

Thank God that it wasn't mandatory to watch the blades get destroyed. Artemis was so done with volcanoes.

The teen decided to talk to Lloyd about her state of mind. He probably wouldn't be much help, but he had listened to her ramblings for two weeks. She knew he wouldn't mind and he would probably stop her from banging her head on the wall from confusion or rage.

Artemis hobbled over to the training room -the process of walking with her crutch was getting easier- and opened the door.

"Hey Lloyd-" She stopped. The eleven year old was not training as she had thought. Instead he was tied to a punching bag, facing away from her, struggling to get free. "LLOYD!"

In that moment something caused the Bounty to lurch to one side and stay there. It wasn't too bad of a slope, but it caused Artemis to lose some of her balance and drop her crutch. The shift also caused the teen to slide, but she managed to grab on to the punching bag Lloyd was tied to before she went too far. But in the process she jarred her broken arm, causing her to gasp in pain.

After taking a brief second to calm and recollect herself, Artemis looked at Lloyd. He was starring at her wide eyed and with duct tape on his mouth.

She tore it away and was immediately bombarded with Lloyd's shout of; "PYTHOR'S ON BOARD!"

This is what she had forgotten.

The teen managed to haul herself up to the P.A system next to the door. Once there she relayed Lloyd's message, hoping that the panic in her voice wasn't too noticeable.

How could she have forgotten Pythor? He was their biggest inconvenience right now.

"Artemis!" She looked to see that Lloyd had managed to slip off of the punching bag, though his hands were still tied behind his back.

Right, Lloyd. She needed to help Lloyd.

They both struggled with that knot. She only had one hand, both of his were tied up in said knot, and he kept squirming around. Eventually they got him untied, and the boy ran off to help the others.

Artemis however, stood still for a moment, trying not to have a breakdown.

Pythor was here. Pythor, the snake who had held her and Lloyd captive for two weeks. The thought of this terrified her.

She couldn't just stand here. Things were still happening, the shouts coming from above her proved this, and Artemis refused to just stand here and do nothing. So she grabbed her crutch and made her way to the deck a fast as she could.

Artemis managed to arrive just in time to see Pythor jump off of the edge of the Bounty, with all four blades. She also managed to watch as Kai lost his footing and plummet into the volcano with the rest of the ninja and Sensei Wu.

Luckily, Nya had been in her Samurai X suit, and managed to catch them all before they died.

* * *

After being left behind on the Bounty while the others went after Pythor, Artemis and Lloyd thought it would be an excellent idea if they followed.

"I call driving" Lloyd exclaimed almost immediately once they entered the bridge.

"You're not old enough to drive, let alone tall enough to see over the wheel. So let's just figure out how to get the anchor up and go." Lloyd begrudgingly nodded.

After about five minutes, and several wrong buttons, the two finally managed to get the anchor up and the Bounty moving.

Driving a car is much easier than controlling a large high-tech flying sailing vessel, especially with only one hand. The first few minutes of this experience mostly consisted of dramatic turns to stop the ship from crashing into large rocks.

"I think you're over steering!" Lloyd shouted. He was currently clutching the bolted down table in the middle of the room.

"Do you want to try?" Artemis shouted back, the panic obvious in her voice.

"Nah, I'm good."

Honestly, Artemis could hardly remember anything other than her bad flying. She was operating on auto pilot, letting Lloyd tell her which way to go.

She did however remember seeing most of the snakified tour bus that the ninja were on. It had come to almost a complete stop and was missing the front most car. Lloyd made a spectacular grab with the anchor, and the bounty began to drag the remaining bits of the buss along.

They managed to make it to The Lost City of Ouroborus just as menacingly dark clouds rolled in.

The ship had barely come to a stop when Lloyd rushed out of the bridge, saying that he was going to help.

"Lloyd! Wait!" Artemis was no longer on auto pilot, and was beginning to panic again. The second she got the bounty to stop, she went after the boy. She made it to the railing before noticing he was already racing after the others.

* * *

 **Ah yes my readers, we are near the end of season one. But fear not! For I literally have almost every season planned out already.  
If you have any questions feel free to ask, and remember reviews are always appreciated.  
I hope you enjoyed :D**


	12. More Panic!

Artemis knew that they were screwed when she saw the Great Devourer raise its ugly mug over the ancient city. It was a sickly green with poisonous purple eyes, and it looked hungry.

Yeah, they were screwed.

Artemis stood on the Bounty frozen in terror as she starred at the monster. She hardly noticing when Nya and Lloyd returned to the ship, and only moved when she felt a tug on her arm. Lloyd was trying to get her back on the bridge.

Once there, she watched the two prepare the Bounty to fly. Artemis was no help; all she could do was watch as the snake began to move.

Just as the ninja came through the door, Nya managed to get the ship to move.

Artemis sunk to the floor as they took off, turning into a ball.

This was real, and she could die here. She wasn't dreaming or hallucinating, the people around her proved this. Pythor had proved this too, with all the pain he had caused her. This world had monsters and magic. Things she wasn't prepared for. Logic was her comfort zone, and this shit scared her half to death.

If she remembered correctly, that monster had eaten Sensei Wu, and would continue to eat all of Ninjago until there was nothing was left.

This was her reality now, and sometimes reality is scarier than fiction.

Suddenly Artemis heard a voice that she didn't recognize.

 _'So why did you create that gia…..'_

It was faint, and seemed to be coming from nowhere.

Her head shot up and whirled around violently, searching for whoever had said that.

Artemis was now able to take in her surroundings. The ninja were grabbing anything that wasn't bolted down and throwing it off the side, most likely to gain speed.

Forgetting the mysterious voice, the teen attempted to stand up without her crutch (someone had thrown it overboard). Lloyd, who was helping Jay man the monitor, noticed her struggle and raced over to help her.

They had made it out f the menacingly dark clouds and now were in some sort of canyon. She quickly lost all sense of direction from all of the twists and turns Nya made.

Most of the ninja were back on the bridge, looking slightly more panicked than they had earlier that day.

Artemis heard the voice again, but it was still very faint. It was now arguing with a couple of other voices. She paid them no attention, deciding to focus on the matter at hand.

Luckily, thanks to Nya, they seemed to have lost the beast.

The universe seemed to hate everyone on board, because that's when the Devourer used its tail to knock the Destinies Bounty out of the sky.

"Abandon ship!"

Nobody needed to be told twice.

Cole Immediately grabbed Artemis around her waist and hauled her out of there.

"I hope this works!" He jumped off of the Bounty as he said this, holding Artemis like a sack underneath his arm. She closed her eyes, not really wanting to see the ground get closer and closer.

Suddenly there was a flash of light, and the teen was now sitting in a car. Artemis opened her eyes to see that she was now sitting in Cole's magic Golden Scythe vehicle. She was sitting behind the Earth ninja, who looked a bit squished. She didn't have much room either.

"Holy shit, it worked!" Cole exclaimed excitedly, while looking at his vehicle in amazement.

The excitement died down when they saw the Great Devourer pick up the ship with its mighty jaw. It could have swallowed it whole, but nope. It decided crushing that crushing the Bounty was a much better idea.

The team's reaction was almost instantaneous. They all hurried towards the giant rock nearby that was kindly housing a cave, and looked suspiciously like a snake.

They all took some form of cover behind the sand dune that was at the entrance to the cave. Meanwhile the snake slithered around, and away from the area.

The Earth Ninja let Artemis use him as a crutch, and helped her sit down. The mental struggle that had been put on hold was finally starting to its comeback, and Jay's negative thinking wasn't helping.

She really wasn't paying attention; every word said went in one ear and out the other. But she could feel the mood shifting as Kai gave an inspirational speech, probably about how they shouldn't give up or something like that.

 _'And that's why I chose him,'_ one of the disembodied voices explained, after Kai had finished.

It wasn't long until Jay was being a pessimist again. At least she wasn't the only one who thought this was hopeless.

A moment later she was helped up by Cole, and they all set out.

* * *

Kai's idea was obviously desperate, but brilliant none the less. It hadn't taken the Fire ninja long to explain his plan to the others, and there was still a long way to go before they got to the scrap yard. So now Cole sat in silence, wishing he knew what to say to the girl behind him who seemed to be coming back from a mental break down.

Now was one of those times where he wished the Tread Assault came with a radio. But every time the magic vehicle hummed back what felt like an apology.

There was a long silence.

Artemis was the first to speak, but she wasn't really talking to him nor was she really speaking.

"A-a-after the war I went back to New York. A-a-after the war I went back to New York…." Her voice was soft and it faded in and out but Cole could now tell she was singing a song.

It seemed to be calming her down so the ninja didn't interrupt her, plus it wasn't bothering him.

He couldn't hear a lot of it, but it was clear that there were multiple singing parts, and Artemis was doing her best to compensate. Cole almost laughed at the end when she kept interrupting herself to sing someone else's part, and watched in the rearview mirror as her face slowly grew red with the effort.

He thought it was cute how passionate she was about the song (and how she stumbled over some of the words).

She finished the song with a loud "I am not throwing away my shot!" then took a deep breath. Cole noted that she looked much better than she had five minutes ago.

"What were you singing?" he asked politely

"Non-Stop from Hamilton"

He had never heard of it so he asked her what it was.

This wasn't his best idea, and for the rest of the ride Artemis told him what it was, by singing the entire musical to him.

He still thought it was cute though.

* * *

They got to the scrap yard far too soon in Artemis's opinion, but she still kept humming her favorite song from the cast recording. When Lloyd heard her he groaned, told Cole he was an idiot, and covered his ears (though he was happy to see Artemis functioning properly).

Once the ninja had hashed out all of the details in their plan they encouraged the other three to stand back. They hid behind the trailer, though they did have their heads sticking out in curiosity.

Artemis watched as the four elemental ninja began their spinjitsu. Even real life she still thought they looked like spinning tops, just a lot prettier and deadlier.

Once they all joined together it got a lot more chaotic. The wind from the tornado was picking things up, some sucked in and used, others just flung off into a random direction. It wasn't exactly fun being on the sidelines.

Sadly, the moment that they finished it, the Great Devourer made its return.

The three were still hiding behind the trailer, but now they were watching the ninja fight a giant snake while trying to figure out how they control the large vehicle the just whipped up.

Luckily, Artemis was able to keep from screaming externally, and kept her screaming internal.

It took them a couple of minutes of trial and error, until the ninja where able to use the sound blaster thingy that the snake didn't like. But it got angry and decided to smash the vehicle, which effectively let it go.

They were screwed.

* * *

 **yo i got super distracted while writing this lol. Like i spent three or four days in a fort playing Pokemon distracted. I also got distracted while typing this up because i was listening to Hamilton (if you haven't listened to it you must) and playing with my cat.**

 **I totally want to know who you ship Artemis with too btw.**

 **Anyway i hope you enjoyed :D**


	13. I Told You So

Zane was mostly fine, half of his face was missing, but he was fine. It kind of freaked Artemis out seeing the robot parts, so she elected to ignore them.

"Perfect, now that was a total failure." Jay proclaimed angrily as he stood one of the vehicles treads. Kai quickly explained that he had seen a weak spot on its forehead. "Oh great, let me make a note of that. Giant snake has wee-itty-bitty weak spot that'll bE TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO GET AT BECAUSE THAT THING IS TO REDICULOUSLY HUGE TO DO ANYTHING TO STOP IT!"

"Are you done?" Nya asked calmly.

Jay took a deep breath, "Yes."

"Good, because that thing is headed towards Ninjago city."

Everybody panicked.

* * *

They got to the city relatively quickly.

The boys got to ride in their fancy new tank, while the other three had to decide who got to sit in the passenger seat attached to the samurai mech.

After much protest, and many death threats, Artemis was forced to sit there by everyone else. She promised to all who helped her in the seat that she would get her revenge.

Lloyd, however, was crammed inside the mech next to Nya.

They got to the city later than the others, but did get there in time to see the Devourer looming over the ninja.

Nya, ever the hero, decided to help them by grabbing a nearby lamp post and lodging it in the monsters mouth, keeping it from closing. And of course the mech got stuck in the process.

"NYA GET US OUT OF HERE!" Artemis shouted.

They were now being swung back and forth as the snake tried to dislodge the post.

"I'M TRYING!" the Samurai yelled back.

"WELL TRY HARDER!" Artemis's stomach wasn't fairing well with the violent swinging and the Devourer's terrible breath.

Just as the lamp post began to bend, something large hit the back of the snakes head.

Artemis looked over and saw what could have been a dragon. The only reason she questioned it was because it had four heads.

It soon came to their rescue, firing powerful blasts of the ninja's respected element. After the last hit, the Samurai mech fell from the mouth. Luckily the dragon caught them before they hit the ground, and deposited them not so gracefully near the ninja.

The three groaned as they got out of the damaged mech.

"I hate all of you." Artemis stated simply when she was near the ninja.

They weren't paying her much attention; they were watching the King Kong situation going on at the top of a nearby skyscraper.

After a spectacular aerial battle, the four headed dragon managed to drive the snake away.

They all cheered excitedly, happy that the fight was over.

Once again the Universe seemed to say "LOL nope," because the Devourer used its tail to knock the majestic beast out of the sky.

The Devourer slithered around the city causing panic, while the group rushed over to their fallen friend and panicked about what to do next.

"You came back!" Lloyd had turned around and was addressing someone not in the group.

Artemis turned and saw a man with four arms, black skin, a stupid looking helmet, and bright red eyes.

This was Lord Garmadon.

At this moment, Artemis really wished she had a bat (and two functioning arms) to beat the crap out of the war lord. The fact that his presence reminded her of what was going to happen, and the fact that it worked, made her want to hit him even more.

"Give me the Golden Weapons. I'm the only one who can handle the power of all four weapons at once. It's the only thing that will defeat the Devourer."

Artemis heard the others talking, but she wasn't listening to them. No, she was listening to someone faintly chant "no" over and over again. Several voices were protesting this idea, but it seemed like the teen was the only person who could hear them. She had to stop this.

She spoke up just as Kai was about to make his move.

"You really want to give the most powerful weapons in the world to a guy we can't even trust? He is literally the worst person in the universe!" She grabbed Kai's arm and looked him straight in the eyes. "I know how this ends if you give him those and I'm sure you do too. We will find another way to beat that thing."

She released his arm and stepped back, her eyes returned to giving Garmadon a deadly stare.

Kai was thinking hard, if the pained expression on his face was anything to go by. Eventually he made his choice.

It was the stupid one.

* * *

Once again Nya, Lloyd, and Artemis were left on the sidelines with nothing to do but watch and wait. So while the ninja were distracting the Devourer, the three had the dragon take them to a nearby rooftop.

They watched quietly as the snake chased the ninja throughout the city.

"So you really think my dad is that bad?" Lloyd inquired, looking up at her.

"From what little I remember of the show, I know that your dad is a bitch. And the next time I see him I'm going to kick him in the nuts." Her voice was as stone cold as the gaze in her eyes.

The boy shrugged, "Fair enough."

Soon the monster was trapped by eating its own tail, and the ninja had joined them on the roof.

As if on cue, dark clouds rolled in and summoned an impressive light show.

They spotted Garmadon on the top of the building next to the Devourers head. The colossal snake seemed to understand what was happening, accepted its fate, and stopped struggling. That's when he launched himself off of the building.

Five seconds later all of Ninjago City was covered in green goo, and Artemis seemed to be the only one bothered by this.

They all left the rooftop and went into the streets (Artemis was using Zane as her crutch this time). Jay was greeted by his parents, and Cole went to go cuddle the massive dragon that landed behind them.

"I don't see my dad." Lloyd remarked, disappointment apparent in his voice.

"He should be around here somewhere." Kai supplied hopefully.

"Your analysis is incorrect. He is not here."

"Then our Golden Weapons are gone too!" Cole exclaimed angrily. "Well isn't that convenient!"

"Look footprints." Nya was pointing at some gooey footprints that were leading away from all of the excitement.

Artemis glared at Kai. "I told you so."

The fire ninja bristled at her comment, but just told Lloyd that he was deffinitly going to see his father again.

That's when Cole spotted Sensei Wu. He was standing in the green goo relatively unharmed. They all rushed towards him (Artemis got a piggyback ride from Jay) happy that he was okay.

The old man totally faked them out by going for his still intact tea pot that was nearby, instead of them.

"Okay if he can find his stupid tea pot, then where is my crutch?" Artemis remarked angrily. They must have thought she was joking, because they all laughed good naturedly at her and Wu.

After a touching moment between everyone, and dialogue that was fit to end the first season of a children's cartoon Artemis spoke up.

"Guys, I think I need to get my casts redone. I don't think this goo had done the plaster any favors, plus I think were standing in the snake equivalent of stomach acid."

* * *

 **I think that this is the fastest I've ever gotten a chapter up.**

 **Anyway, season one is over, but the story is far from it! This is when things get fun and thing change! MUAHAHAHAHA!**

 **There's a bit of filler coming up so i was wondering if you guys want it all in one chapter or want me to spread it out.**

 **I hope you enjoyed :D**


	14. Back to Normal?

The group had spent the last two days helping repair random things in the city and spending the nights at Ed and Edna's Scrap Yard. Nobody was getting much sleep; they were all still too wired from the Devourer. Any sleep that Artemis got was quickly interrupted by a nightmare.

Currently, she sat on a bench next to Lloyd, watching the ninja attempt to fix a large sign. Kai was complaining about having his elemental powers weakened while the other three actually did the work.

Nya soon appeared on her motorcycle, with Sensei Wu in the side car. The young woman explained that she had found a real estate agent who would be able to find them an apartment in the city. The two then left for a day trip filled with errands.

The ninja didn't protest when Artemis took control of the apartment hunt. They were slightly scared of the tiny teen because they believed that she was becoming a bit to trigger happy with hitting people with her crutch. In reality, she had only purposefully hit them twice. She had never meant to hit Cole on the back of his head.

Two hours later the group was looking at a somewhat decent apartment. It was small but it had two rooms, a functioning bathroom, and a kitchenette. Artemis was sure that they could make this work.

They were able to sign the lease and "move in" that day too.

Their luck seemed to be turning too; the previous tenant had left a couple of mattresses (which Artemis quickly claimed for her and Nya).

"Guys, we need food in the fridge." Artemis stated plainly, while standing in the kitchenette. "I'm going to go to the store."

"I'm going too!" Lloyd rushed over to her.

"Anybody else care to join?" She remarked, knowing that she wouldn't get anymore answers. Slowly, to her surprise, each of the ninja said they would be going too. Artemis raised an eyebrow at this. "Why?"

"Well we just think that it would be smart for you to have at least two of us with you. So, you know, you don't get kidnapped again." Jay answered, hoping that he wouldn't be whacked. Instead he got one of her death glares.

"I do not need a babysitter." She said darkly.

"Artemis, you have a broken foot, and a broken arm. We are going with you." Lloyd stated plainly, no room for argument in his voice.

She stared at the boy. Then she took a deep breath.

"Fine, let's go."

That was the weirdest trip to the grocery store ever.

* * *

When Garmadon and his newly acquired serpentine army reached the golden peaks, he was practically vibrating with excitement. He was finally going to get the power that he deserved.

He watched quietly as the weapons were pulled from his hand and joined with the molten gold below. The War Lord waited for what seemed like an eternity, but what emerged was not the Ultimate Weapon.

Four beings had emerged from the gold each holding a weapon. These were the Gods that had created them, and they were not happy.

"Did you really think we were going to let you have the Ultimate Weapon?" The man in the suit asked with a booming voice.

Garmadon was unable to answer, for the woman of white spoke before he could.

"You stole these from our champions. We should kill you." Her voice was as cold as a glacier.

Now he began to panic. He stuttered as he began to beg for forgiveness, but one again he was interrupted.

The god of fire smiled maliciously, "But you have a much worse fate in store, and why would we deprive you of it?"

They left not a moment later, in a flash of bright light, their weapons falling into the molten gold below, never to be used again.

Still trembling, Garmadon faced his army, "I have a backup plan."

He did not have a backup plan, but he was able to make them believe this for several months.

* * *

 **It may be short, but I am proud of this chapter! The part with Garmadon was my favorite part to write and honestly i just love messing with him because he is my least favorite character. The next few chapters will be total filler, because Gramadon can't mess with anybody, and then we get to go back to the main story and stuff.**

 **Also I think I've gone mad with power because of who you people ship. I cant wait to crush all of your hopes and dreams.**

 **I hope you enjoyed :D**


	15. What is Normal?

The first week in the new apartment was rather slow.

They didn't have any furniture, so they all ate on the floor with paper plates and red solo cups. The boys were all sleeping on the floor in their shared room. And there was absolutely nothing to do in the apartment.

Nya had already gotten a job at an auto shop, while Artemis was looking for toutering clients. Luckily exame season was coming up, so she already had a few kids lined up.

The teen had just stepped out of her and Nya's shared room, when she heard, "Okay how about some target practice?"

Artemis saw the four ninja sanding in the main room, Lloyd nearby. Cole had a pot on top of his head, Jay was holding a ladle, Zane with his signature pink apron, and Kia was wearing oven mitts.

It was Cole who had uttered those words and it was he who got hit in the stomach with her crutch.

"No ninja training in the apartment!" She may have been smaller than the majority in the room, but she was one of the more intimidating too.

"Why not?" Kai asked, rather annoyed.

"Because knowing you guys, you _will_ break something." She stated while attempting to cross her arms.

"We don't have anything _to_ break." Jay countered, gesturing to the mostly empty room.

Artemis pointed to the only window in the room. It may have a terrible view, but it was a view none the less. "You'll end up breaking that, and then Nya and I will have to pay to replace it."

"She has a point." The Nindroid acknowledged.

The ninja just stared at each other for a minute, obviously having a silent conversation about what to do.

Artemis however didn't have time for this; she had to get to tutoring.

"I'll be back in a couple of hours. And please, please, have found somewhere else to train Lloyd by then."

Oh, they found somewhere else to train the young ninja alright. It was at Dareth's Dojo.

Over the next few weeks, whenever Artemis was free she would hang out at the dojo and watch Lloyd train. Dareth was a bit obnoxious, but he was tolerable. Much of what she said to and or about him was basically along the lines of "oh Dareth" accompanied with a sigh.

She did think that his hair and his self confidence were amazing.

* * *

It was dark and stuffy wherever Artemis was, and she was laying on something that kept wiggling.

The teen sat up and looked around. The first thing she noticed was the faint light source that was high above her. Much of the room was still dark, but there was enough light to tell that there was no way out, and that the walls were to smooth to climb.

The second thing she noticed was that she was no longer hindered by her casts. That was one small victory.

That's when she felt something slide across her hand.

Artemis jerked away and leapt up search the ground for what had touched her.

To her horror, there were thousands of tiny Great Devourers slithering right to her. And they all looked starving.

Artemis sat straight up in her bed, her heart racing.

 _It was only a dream_ , she told herself over and over again, trying to calm down.

The teen stood up a moment later, deciding that she needed a glass of water.

It had been a little over a month since the Devourer, and Artemis's dreams were still littered with nightmares. The others fared no better, except Wu, he slept like a log.

The first nightmare she'd had had woken everybody up. Now Artemis would just jerk away, and often end up jostling one of her injuries.

Artemis walked as quietly as she could to the kitchen, grabbed a red solo cup, and filled it with water. After taking a sip she turned and leaned against the sink.

That's when she noticed she wasn't alone in the room.

Cole and Jay were sitting on the floor quietly playing a card game in the moonlight.

It wasn't uncommon for one to get up in the middle of the night and see someone else up. Once she and Lloyd had been up together and ended up falling asleep against the wall. Nobody had woken them up until noon.

When Artemis was finished with her drink, she sat down next to the boys and silently asked to join in the next round.

* * *

It had been two months since the Devourer, and summer was in full swing. Thankfully she had gotten her casts off before most of the heat had hit. Artemis was very happy to have both arms back.

The cuts on her cheek, temple, and the bridge of her nose had ended up scarring. She also had one just above her right elbow.

Artemis was just returning from a tutoring session. When she opened the door the teen was bombarded with "SUPRIZE!"

Naturally, Artemis screamed, jumped approximately ten feet in the air, and tried to hit whatever had scared her with a nonexistent crutch. After realizing she couldn't hit her foe, she decided to take in her surroundings.

The others were all standing around the large cardboard box that they called a table. On top of which sat a generic store-bought cake with two candles on it, a one and a nine.

"Oh yeah, today's my birthday…" she recalled absentmindedly, but then there was a more prominent question on her mind, "Wait. How do you know when my birthday is?"

Lloyd answered, "We played that twenty questions game when we were stuck remember?"

"Oh yeah…." They all agreed to refer to their time captured by Pythor as the two being stuck.

Nya promptly came over to her and pulled Artemis over to the 'table'. Kai proudly lit the candles with his powers, and told Artemis to make a wish.

She didn't have one, but the others didn't need to know that.

The now nineteen-year-old was caught off guard once more when Jay brought over three poorly wrapped gifts.

"You guys went all out." She remarked, smiling at the newspaper wrappings.

"Only the best for you," Wu jested.

The largest gift was from Cole, which turned out to be a large sweatshirt that said "I heart Ninjago City." The next was from Kai, and it was just a plain purple tee-shirt (he earned a high five for guessing her favorite color correctly). The last was from both Zane and Jay who had gotten her a graphing calculator, which she needed for tutoring. Nya then promised that she would teach Artemis a few self defense moves.

Lloyd's gift was the best though. He had gotten her a softball bat.

"Do we have a tennis ball anywhere?" She asked immediately, eyes alight. Jay came back a few moments later with one (they used them during training sometimes). Artemis took it and raced outside.

"Does anyone know how to pitch?" She asked hopefully when they were in the street. Luckily nobody was around. Wu nodded and was handed the ball.

The others had never seen her like this before. While Artemis was normally quite confidant, they had never seen this sort of fire in her eyes before.

After taking a few warm up swings, she signaled to Wu that she was ready.

The bat hit the ball with a loud crack, and it soured through the street.

Suddenly there was the sound of glass breaking and Artemis was yelling for them all to run back inside. They had never seen her smile so wide before.

* * *

 **Yo, i loved writing this chapter, especially the birthday bit. And Yay Artemis is out of her casts!**

 **In the next chapter we get back to the story, and I get to write a part I have been dying to get to since I thought of it!**

 **I hope you enjoyed :D**


	16. Tea or Coffee?

Artemis was laying on her bed staring up at the ceiling. She had just awoken from another nightmare, this one featuring Pythor killing Lloyd in front of her. She had been like this for the past few hours, not doing anything except for going over past events in her head.

The Ninjaball run had been a few days ago (about two weeks after her birthday) and it had been an incredibly stressful event for her, Nya, and Wu to witness. Artemis had attempted to stop Lloyd from participating, but the boy had refused. Garmadon had shown up after the race had started, but the teen noticed he lacked a certain advantage, the Ultimate Weapon.

This made her wonder if the events of "Child's Play" would even be occurring. Lloyd needed to grow up, for his father would soon find the other island. Even though his training was going well, the Green Ninja was nowhere near ready to fight his father.

Was she even ready for this?

Artemis sat up and looked around. They had gotten back the bounty after the race, so she and Nya were back in their previous room. The teen got out of bed a moment later and knelt down beside it. She reached underneath and pulled out a small cardboard only thing special about this box was that it was abnormally small, and it's contents.

Inside was a small jar filled with a clear liquid. With the soft light of the moon she could see it shimmer.

This was travlers tea.

Wu had given this to her as a birthday gift after the window incident. He had done it without the boys around, probably so they wouldn't influence her decision.

The brunette sat on her bed, the jar held carefully in her hands, elbows resting on her knees.

This was her ticket home.

Artemis could leave all of this craziness behind. She could go home and have a normal life, a normal job, and forget all of this even happened. Pretend like it was all some crazy dream.

She wouldn't have to witness the impending doom. She wouldn't have to watch Lloyd fight his father, or as the others got corrupted near the end. Artemis wouldn't have to watch all of her friends get hurt, or worse.

Artemis could go home.

But now, home felt more like here than there.

Whenever she thought of her previous world it was filled with sadness and spite. Her family had felt less like a family and more like an obligation. The people here actually seemed to care about her.

 _The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb._

Wu had said those words to her after giving Artemis the box. She hadn't realised what he meant until now.

The people around her were more of a family to her now than her blood relatives, and they always would be. This was her home now.

Just as Artemis made that decision, an alarm went off, waking everyone on board.

The teen heard a loud thump as someone had fallen out of their bed, and then movement as the ninja rushed to get ready for whatever had happened. Artemis got up and followed Nya to the bridge.

Once there she saw the alert on the monitor. Someone had broken into the NInjago Museum, and from the footage Nya managed to pull up it was definitely Garmadon.

"I'm going to." They all turned and stared at her.

"No," Jay declared.

Artemis crossed her arms and continued, "This was my favorite episode, I've seen it so many times I practically have it memorised. So essentially, I have seen the future."

It took a bit more convincing, but they eventually relented. She did have to promise that she would stick to them like glue.

* * *

Garmadon and his Serpentine lackeys had definitely broken into the museum. The War Lord may not have had his Ultimate Weapon, but he obviously had a plan.

Artemis and the ninja watched as the maniac went over his diabolical plan. Apparently since he didn't have the weapon he was using something called _Yesterday's Tea_ to turn back the clock and revive the Grundle. He held a jar of shimmering yellow liquid in the air to prove this.

She didn't stop the boys when they jumped down to intervene, she joined them (though a little rattled from the drop). Unfortunately, as they had all dropped around the bones, Garmadon had decided that was the perfect time to use the tea.

The substance swirled around them, turning from a liquid to a gas in a second. It looked like a giant container of yellow glitter had just been thrown at them.

When Garmadon saw the ninja, the War Lord called a strategic retreat. Once he and all of his grunts left, Artemis spotted the five generals stealing a sarcophagus. She quickly pointed this out to the boys and they chased the serpentine out of the museum and onto the streets.

Artemis was the shortest, so her gait wasn't as large as her companions. But as she felt the tea do its work, the boys in front of her slowed significantly.

Finally they reached their goal, which had been left sticking out of a manhole.

"I can't believe we couldn't catch up to them. I'm usually faster than that." Jay panted, his voice higher than before. "Its as if my legs are half the size."

"I don't remember that thing being so big, did it grow?" Kai inquired, his voice had also changed.

"Or did we shrink?" Zane pondered.

At this point Artemis started giggling, and they all turned to look at her. They were shocked to see a small girl, about nine, standing in her place. Her hair was much longer, her clothing dwarfed her, and the scars on her face were completely gone. But her silver eyes confirmed who she was.

The ninja then turned to each other and proceeded to scream.

They were all about the same height now, though Zane was now the tallest and Cole the shortest.

The boys continued to freak out and Zane saying "This does not compute" while his eye twitched and sparked was the highlight of her day.

"Fine I get it, we're all in this together. But I can't be a kid again, I hated being a kid! You can't drive, nobody listens to you." Cole suddenly gasped, "BEDTIME!"

"Artemis what's going on?" Jay grabbed the girl's shoulder, trying to get her to stop laughing. It did not work, if anything the now nine-year-old laughed harder.

The police showed up, and after a few minutes of the boys trying to convince the officers that they were adults, they were all taken to the precinct. Once there the officers explained that they would be taking them back to the museum in the morning to apologize. So until then they were ordered to try and get some sleep.

One of the officers had asked if Jay was Artemis's older brother. Apparently they looked similar enough. The two took it as a compliment, and silently agreed that they were now siblings.

Later, Artemis had fallen asleep on Cole's shoulder (who was threatened to not move a muscle until she woke up by Jay), while the boy's stayed awake and thought of possible solutions to their problem. Nobody was in favor of growing up normally.

* * *

It was now around noon and the group of kids had managed to escape the police and the museum. Sadly, while at the museum they had learned the Grundle bones were missing.

They made a stop at a payphone, and Jay called the Bounty to get some help. Kai had to help the Blue Ninja reach the phone, while Cole was giving Artemis a piggyback ride, and Zane was keeping an eye out for the monster.

Ten minutes later, after a hectic call with Lloyd, the group was now at a pizza joint.

"pst ,Lloyd." Kai whispered when the Green Ninja had wandered close enough to their table.

"Beat it brat, I'm on a mission." He said offhandedly, obviously looking for them as adults.

The Fire Ninja was obviously ticked about the blonds response, So it wasn't a surprise that there was a bit of venom in his next statement. "It's me, Kai." Then he gave his pupil a pointed look.

Lloyd looked closely at the tables occupants, dropped the weapons he was holding and nearly screamed. Cole covered the kids mouth, and Kai pulled him into the booth.

"What happened?"

"Your Dad," Jay stated, "He used some kind of weird tea, and now we're all kids and we have an ancient monster chasing after us!"

"We need a plan-" Kai was cut off by a small cough from in between Cole and Zane.

Artemis had just done a marvelous impression of the Umbridge cough from _Harry Potter,_ though none of them understood the reference. And just like the toad, she took this silence as her opportunity to speak.

"From what I remember, the Grundle only hunts at night, so we're good for a few more hours. We could lure it out of the city, but we can't use public transportation because we're minors, and walking would take far too long. So I suggest we find a place that is generally deserted at night, like a park, then call the Bounty and tell Nya and Wu where we are."

The girl was completely calm as she explained this. And for the upteenth time they all stared at her. A smug smile appeared on her face. "You do realize that I am the smartest nine-year-old you will ever meet, right?"

* * *

Half an hour later, they had found a suitable park, and had contacted Wu. Now the six of them just stood there staring at a nearly empty playground wondering what to do.

Artemis put her hand on Kai's shoulder, looked him straight in the eyes as she spoke the words that would start a war, "Tag, you're it," and ran off. The others, except for Zane, followed her lead. The nindroid was then proclaimed "it" by Kai. He had never played the game before so the Fire Ninja quickly explained the rules as he slowly edged away.

The game lasted for about an hour, followed by an intense game of "hide 'n seek." They had all decided that no matter what spot you chose, you had to stay there until you were found. This led to Cole hiding inside of one of the small playset roofs. Though it did not seem that he accounted for the fact that he was much shorter, and had lost much of his muscle mass in the deaging process. So he fell out a few minutes later.

They also held random compitions. Such as who could hung upside down the longest, who could run up the slide the fastest, and who could jump off the swings the furthest.

Throughout this time, they had all been wary of the monster hunting them. All having there fun, but still keeping an eye out for it.

When the sun was setting they all sat on the jungle gym. After about an hour of tense silence, they spotted the Grundle.

Artemis had seen some ugly things in her time, but this was by far the worst. Its leathery hide seemed to fade from a coral to a deep red, spikes protruding from its back. Its eyes glowed blue, and beneath its catfish whiskers and fish lips were a plethora of razor sharp fangs.

All in all, it looked like a weird fusion between a dinosaur and a catfish, and it hadn't noticed them yet.

The group slowly got off of the jungle gym and carefully made their way beneath the playset. They would have more cover there.

Sadly they didn't stay hidden for long. The Grundle had spotted them and charged, then proceeded to rip off the slide that was in front of them. Luckily the monster was about ten feet tall and had itty-bitty arms so it was unable to reach them effectively.

The group brandished their weapons, preparing to fight. Cole was the to go for the attack and swung his scythe, aiming for the monsters leg.

Remember how the universe hates them? Well sadly that came into play.

When the scythe met the hide of the Grundle, it nearly broke. The Earth Ninja made a hasty retreat and gave the others a panicked look.

"What the shit Artemis!" Cole yelled, "I thought you knew everything!"

"I DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING!" She shouted back, obviously frustrated.

The beast then managed to topple over the play set, exposing the group.

Zane had some wonderful advice, "RUN!"

They all raced away, heading towards some nearby trees. But the Grundle was faster and cornered them in the wreckage.

Just then, the most beautiful thing happened. Nya and Wu showed up. Once he was close enough, Sensei threw a small bottle their way. Lloyd caught it.

"Its Tomorrow's Tea! It'll get you guys back to normal and destroy the Grundle!" Nya explained over the noise.

Speaking of which, the beast in front of them seemed to have lost a few brain cells from being revived, as it was trying to grab them with its tiny t-rex arms.

"What about Lloyd? He'll grow old too!" Cole stated.

"Guys, I'll be fine." But nobody paid him any heed.

"You'll lose out on the rest of your childhood! We can't do that to you, it's not fair!" Jay remarked angrily.

Lloyd glared at the bottle of shimmering purple liquid, gripped it tight, and stepped in front of the group.

Then the Green Ninja threw it on the ground, and his world was changed forever.

* * *

 **YAY! Another chapter! I was actually super excited to write this one because when I was first coming up with this story I knew Artemis had to be apart of this episode. Also I apologize for the wait, school started for me last week, also I wrote so much a few weeks ago that my wrists were literally dying. The good thing is that school will probably make my chapters more regular, rather than me just updating randomly.**

 **I hope you enjoyed, and a review always helps :D**


	17. Changes

The next few weeks were incredibly strange.

After the Tomorrow's Tea had taken its affect, Lloyd had gotten much older. They estimated he was around eighteen or nineteen. He was also a little over six feet tall, and they all speculated that he got his height from his father. This made him quite clumsy for a while, his brain not used to the longer limbs.

A couple of days after the change Artemis spotted Lloyd in the kitchen, standing on the counter, reaching for a bowl.

"Lloyd, you're over six feet tall now, you don't need to stand on the counter." She reminded him.

"Oh yeah….."

Granted it had been in the middle of the night, and he was probably still half asleep. After that they had just sat quietly and stared sleepily at each other as they ate their midnight cereal.

Once he got used to his body, Lloyds training progressed much faster.

What concerned her was that after a long (and probably awkward) conversation with the other guys, Lloyd began to avoid her like the plague.

Along with the changes to Lloyd, Jay began to play the role of older brother to Artemis, and vise versa. The two became the duo who provided the best puns, the most pop culture refrences, and high fived each other after each. They had even given each other stupid nicknames. Jay was dubbed "Bro-bro" and Artemis was "Mini me." It annoyed everyone.

Her training with Nya was going quite well, and she was getting pretty good at the moves she was taught. Besides that most of her time was taken up by reading books about the history of Ninjago, and seeing how far she could hit a tennis ball overboard. Teaching Lloyd had been put on the back burner since his ninja training began, so Artemis was almost always bored now.

* * *

It took two weeks until Artemis was pissed enough to confront Lloyd. Jay had offered to talk to him, but she turned her surrogate brother down. Saying that this was something she needed to do herself.

She found the Green Ninja in the training room, trying to meditate. It didn't look like he was getting very far, because he kept shifting positions and had a frustrated look on his face.

He hadn't noticed her yet, if he had, he hadn't acknowledged her. So Artemis knelt down in front of him and tapped his nose.

Lloyd's crimson eyes shot open, looking for the intruder. Then he noticed that it was Artemis who had disturbed him, and the ninja fell backwards and tried to back away, as if he was trying to escape.

The brunette smiled at his reaction, then sobered during her statement, "Lloyd we need to talk."

He stared at her wide eyed, opening and closing his mouth as if her were trying to come up with an excuse why they couldn't. She raised an eyebrow daring him to escape.

The Green Ninja sighed in defeat and sat back up, "What do we need to talk about?"

Artemis sat down in front of him and crossed her legs, "You've been avoiding me, and I would like to know why."

The blonde gulped and looked slightly panicked again. Then he started opening and closing his mouth once more, resembling a fish in the process.

"I…. um…. Uh…." Now he was doing anything he could to avoid eye contact. "It's just … um… I dunno… It's just kind of weird now… isn't it?" Lloyd sounded unsure of himself as he said this.

"What's weird?"

"Us hanging out and stuff….." His voice trailed off and his cheeks started to turn tomato red.

"It's only weird if you make it weird, and you made it weird." Artemis stated. She stopped and thought for a moment. With narrowed eyes she asked, "Is this about the talk you had with the guys?"

The blush on his face deepened. She took this as a yes, and started laughing. This did not help the ninja, it actually embarrassed him even more.

"What kind of talk did you have?" She asked between peels of laughter.

Lloyd crossed his arms as he responded, "The kind where Zane gets super specific and makes everyone uncomfortable."

Artemis just laughed harder.

"That doesn't mean we still can't hangout." She explained once she had calmed. "Plus you treat Nya the same, so what makes me any different?"

He ran a hand through his pale golden hair, "I have no idea. All I know is that i think of you two differently….. Ugh…" The ninja buried his face in his hands. "The other guys had years to figure this stuff out, and I've only been this old for two weeks."

The brunette smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Lloyd, you'll get the hang of this eventually. I'm with you 'till the end of the line."

She moved to leave and let Lloyd continue his meditation, but she stopped when he started speaking again.

"Um.. so… ya know how… um… you kept me safe when Pythor had us?" She nodded. The Green Ninja took a moment to gather his thoughts, then looked her straight in the eyes. More confidence in those crimson orbs than she had ever seen before. "Whatever comes next, no matter what happens, or how bad it gets, it's my turn to protect you. I owe you that much."

It was Artemis's turn to blush.

She was stunned and this declaration, so her brain turned on auto pilot. The teen just nodded, then left without another word. When she got to her bed she face planted on it, deciding to stay there until the world ended.

 _Or at least until Lloyd stopped being adorable._

* * *

Everyone noticed the change between the two. Lloyd and Artemis were once again BFF's. But something had changed between and those two were to oblivious to notice.

It was painfully obvious to everyone else though, or at least to Nya and Wu. The former was dying to intervene and play matchmaker for her friends, but the samurai knew better that to intrfere with love afairs. She knew how messy these things could be, the start of her and Jay's relationship was proof of this.

But it's always good to talk about your feelings.

* * *

Artemis was relaxing on her bed reading a book. She had been there for about an hour, but hadn't gotten very far. She had been reading the same paragraph for about ten minutes now, her mind preoccupied with other matters, namely a certain ninja with red eyes.

Things were different now, she knew this. They could never go back to the dynamic that they had when Lloyd was younger. Yes, things were different, but it wasn't all that bad. Now she could explain dirty jokes (and make them) and everyone was able to swear without the fear of a child being around.

The only problem Artemis had with the change was that her adorable Green Bean was now older and somehow gotten cuter.

This was so weird. She shouldn't think that he was cuter, or slightly attractive. He was eleven barely a month ago! This shouldn't even be happening! But somehow the red string of fate had tied them together, Artemis just wanted to know why.

* * *

 **ITS SO FLUFFY! so yeah, this happened.  
Also for the guest who wants to know why I skipped some of the episodes, it's because it's my story and i just didn't see the need to put them in there, also it gets rid of a super annoying paradox situation with the Ultimate Weapon. **

**Next time we get to the good stuff.**

 **I hope you enjoyed and a review is always appreciated :D**


	18. Eww People

"So how's Lloyd?"

Artemis looked up from her book. Nya had entered their room, a smirk gracing her features.

"He's fine…. Why are you asking me? You talk to him almost as much as I do." Artemis gazed suspiciously at her friend who proceeded to sit down next to her.

"Oh, no reason," the older girl said vaguely.

"Bullshit," She glared at her friend, "You have some ulterior motive and it's probably to get me to talk about my feelings and shit."

"Oh come on Artemis! You can't bottle your emotions forever, you need someone to talk to!" Nya explained, confirming the others suspicions.

The teen just glared angrily at Nya, "Challenge accepted."

The samurai sighed in defeat.

* * *

Nya tried to get Artemis to talk three times over the next week. Each attempt ended with the other girl throwing something then hiding for the next two hours. The ninja even began to think that the girls were fighting and planned to intervene if things got bloody.

Luckily, before another attempt at an emotional connection could be made, the boys got an urgent call from the museum, and of course Artemis tagged they got there, they were greeted by the curator who lead them to a gift shop. Artemis's stomach dropped at the sight before her.

The room was overrun by tiny figurines of stone warriors that had decided to destroy the place.

This was the beginning of the end.

Zane must have noticed how her face had paled, "Are you okay?"

She took a deep breath, plastered a fake smile on her face, gripped her bat a little tighter and spoke, "Yeah, I'm fine."

For the next half hour the group smashed anything that moved and a few things that didn't. It was actually a great stress reliever to hit the tiny annoying statuettes. But the joy was soon over when the last one ran out an open door and Wu raced after it.

The ninja followed their master, and after a moment of hesitation, Artemis trailed after them. She took her time though, admiring the ancient artifacts that lined the hallway. Basically she was stalling so she didn't have to meet the older woman. Luckily she made it just as Lloyd stormed off. Yay, she had missed the awkward family reunion!

She glanced at Misako, a concerned look on the mother's face. Her hair was greying and pulled back into a long braid. The woman also wore the stereotypical archaeologists clothing minus the pith helmet.

Misako finally noticed the younger girl. "Hello," Her voice was sickeningly sweet.

"'Sup. I'm Artemis." The older woman smiled at this. "So you're Lloyd's mother? I don't like you."

"Artemis!" Kia's surprised voice rang out and Misako looked slightly hurt.

"What? She's the one who abandoned Lloyd and forced him to go to a boarding school made to teach kids how to be evil." Artemis gestured angrily at the woman. "She hasn't even been actively looking for him since she found all of this shit!"

The woman huffed angrily, then left them to find her son.

"What the shit Artemis! That was not cool!" Jay expressed angrily, arms flailing wildly.

She just rolled her eyes then followed Misako, calling out over her shoulder, "Look if you want an exposition dump, you should probably follow her."

They did and they ended up in a room, more like a glorified hallway, that had tapestries hanging on the wall and a bottomless pit at the end. They got there in time to hear the beginning of the plot dump that Misako was delivering.

"Long ago, after the First Spinjitzu Master created Ninjago," Artemis had read multiple creation myths from this world and this one made the least amount of sense to her. No mortal man should have that kind of power. For power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Misako continued with her story, "With light comes shadow and with shadow comes darkness. The darkest shadow of all was an evil spirit called The Overlord. The battle between light and dark raged on and neither side was winning. Until the Overlord created his indestructible stone army. Fearing the worst, the First Master split NInjago into two and since then there has been no sign of the Overlord."

Once again Artemis rolled her eyes. Personally she put no stock into fairy tales or religion, preferring fact over opinion. But something in her gut told her that this was only part of the story, and not just because Misako had told it.

Deciding that she'd had enough excitement for one day, the teen turned and started to leave.

"Wait, where are you going?" Lloyd inquired when he saw her leaving.

"Back to the Bounty, I've had enough of farfetched stories and chick flick moments. So I'm gonna go see how many tennis balls I can hit overboard, and maybe hide everyone's underwear."

Nobody protested as she left, probably happy that she wasn't around to be a negative nelly. She snorts at the thought of this. Those idiots would be lost without her.

After a moment of walking through the museum, Artemis sat down on a bench in the atrium that used to house the Grundle bones. The museum had switched them out for a fifteen foot statue of a stone warrior that looked surprisingly life like.

A tour group entered the room a moment later and were greeted by the curator himself. She zoned out his talking, choosing to focus on the strange feeling in her gut.

She was forgetting something, she knew it. But the problem was that everything had happened like it was supposed to. They had beaten the crap out of some toys, Lloyd had found his mother, and Garmadon was probably looking for the other island by now. How could she be forgetting something?

Then Artemis heard a scream. Her head shot up and saw that the stone warrior was moving.

 _Oh yeah…. That._

The Statue had turned from stone grey to a cliche color scheme of red and black. Each of its four arms held a massive sword. The warrior had already turned towards the civilians. The people must have had a good sense of self preservation, for they all started running for the exit instead of taking out their phones like the idiots in her world would have done.

Artemis knew that she would never be able to take him on by herself. Her best bet would be to lead it back to the guys so she could have backup. But those idiots would probably make her stay back, and the teen was itching for a chance to prove herself in a fight.

So, after a moment deep in thought, Artemis made her choice.

She positioned herself in front of the door she had come in through, then shouted at the stone warrior.

"Hey, granite face! Over here!"

The living statue turned towards her, eyes narrowed. Once it started to advance Artemis ran like hell.

* * *

 **Yo, so this chapter was super annoying for me to write but I think it turned out okay. Also, since Lloyd is now an "adult" there will be more swearing. Just wanted to let you know. And another thing, I'm sorry if you like Misako but I really don't. I will try and not be to biased when writing her and I promise that Artemis will dislike her less later on.**

 **I hope you enjoyed and leave a review :D**


	19. Fight First, Talk Later

The great thing about softball is that it teaches you how to round tight corners.

Artemis was running for her life with a fifteen foot living statue chasing her. Her feet skidded across the floor as she made her last turn and burst through a doorway. The others were still there, all turning their heads when the door opened.

"I thought you went back to the Bounty." Jay was completely ignored, and Artemis continued to run towards her friends.

"We have a really big problem!" That's when the stone warrior decided to join them. After crashing through the doorway it slowed and carefully made it's way towards them.

"That is a large problem." The Nindroid remarked.

"What is that?" Kai asked in a voice that was a little too loud.

"It's a stone warrior and-" Misako was cut off by Artemis.

"It's indestructible, meaning there is no way in _hell_ we can hurt this thing." Obviously this made everyone a bit nervous.

"Then what do we do?" Cole shouted, his scythe gripped tightly in his hands.

Lloyd's voice suddenly rang out, "The pit! Get it into the pit!"

No one objected to this plan. They all followed the Green Ninjas lead and raced to the end of the hallway, so the pit was in front of them. The warrior followed, but was smart enough not to step into the large hole in front of them.

A loud gurgling sound then came from the monster in front of them. It was laughing, it thought it had them trapped.

Suddenly Artemis had an idea. She ducked underneath Cole's arm, which had been in front of her, and grabbed the red velvet rope that lined the pit. She unhooked one and called out to Misako. The older woman quickly came over and grabbed the golden pole the rope used to be attached to. The two then ran along opposite sides of the pit, velvet ropes and golden poles in tow.

The makeshift rope caught on to the giant warriors legs, binding them together. After hooking the rope she was holding back to its pole, Artemis called out to the ninja. Apparently they were all communicating telepathically because the guys knew exactly what to do, or at least Lloyd did. After some amazing acrobatics (because what ninja doesn't know how to do a flip) the Green Ninja landed a solid hit on the back of its head. It was already off balance because of the ropes, but with this hit it sent the warrior careening forewards into the pit.

Artemis fist bumped the air, "Yeah! Star Wars to the rescue!"

* * *

They had all gone back to Dareth's Dojo, deciding to let Wu and Misako get reacquainted on the Bounty. The guys had taken a break from training when Kai asked a question Artemis hoped would never be asked.

"Hey, Artemis, how much do you know about the future?"

She took a deep breath, determined to keep calm. "Well it's been about seven years since I watched the show, but I remember enough that things get pretty sketchy, pretty soon."

"How sketchy, and how soon?" Jay inquired.

She ran a hand through her short hair. "I don't think I should tell you. You guys might try to do something to prevent it and just make it worse."

"What makes you say that?"

"Time is a really weird, delicate thing, just me being here is changing things."

"Then how much of our past did you know would happen?" Zane rephrased Kai's question.

"All of it."

Her voice was now barely above a whisper, her hair creating a veil that hid her face.

"I knew that Kai only became a ninja to save Nya, and used a toothbrush to fight you three when you met. I knew that Lloyd would get kidnapped by the serpentine and I knew that he was that he was that Green Ninja before we even saved him from Pythor the first time." Her voice was steadily growing louder and more hysterical. "I knew that Pythor would awaken the Devourer, and I told you that Garmadon would steal the Golden Weapons." She took a shaky breath. "I knew that Lloyd would willing use the _Tomorrow's Tea_ , and that he would meet his mother today. Hell, I know that Garmadon is looking for the other Island right now."

Artemis was crying now, terrified of what her new family would say to her.

Kai was the first to break the silence, "Why didn't you tell us this stuff? We could have used this information to our advantage ages ago! You didn't even tell us how to help Lloyd, or about the Devourer, and we could be out there stopping Garmadon right now!"

Artemis exploded. "YOU IDIOT! I didn't tell you because I don't know how much I've changed things! Plus somethings are just _meant_ to happen, and there is nothing you can do about it!"

Lloyd stepped forward, unafraid of the young woman in front of him. He placed his hands on her shoulders and spoke, "Artemis, we're not mad at you, so please try and calm down." He waited for a moment, letting the small brunette take her time. The ninja were slightly panicked, as they all knew to never tell a woman to calm down, it was practically a death sentence. But it seemed to have worked for The Green Ninja, and she soon nodded telling him that it was okay to proceed.

"What did you mean when you said you don't know how much you've changed things?"

"In the show, Garmadon took all of the Golden Weapons and managed to combine them in an 'Ultimate Weapon,'" her voice was quieter, "Obviously he doesn't have it here, because he was supposed to be terrorizing us with it almost the whole time we've been in the city. When we fought the Grundle, you were supposed to take the guys somewhere to get information, and I'm pretty sure you took a while longer to figure out how to stop the stone warrior from earlier. That's all I know so far. For all I know, I could have changed things enough that everyone in this room dies..."

There was a pregnant silence, nobody knowing what to do with her last statement. Lloyd's grip on her shoulders tightened.

"Can you tell us anything about the Final Battle?" Lloyd's voice was incredibly calm for someone who had just been bombarded with this information, but there was an underlying tension in his voice.

She shook her head, "But, once this is all over and _everyone_ is okay, I promise to tell you everything that could or will have happened."

"Deal." He then pulled his best friend into a hug. The other guys smiling knowingly at each other.

"And I promise to make sure that none of us die." He whispered into her ear.

The moment was ruined when the ground started to shake.

* * *

 **Yo. This chapter was really wired for me. I wrote the draft in about an hour, but it took me over a week to type it up. Also I got super distracted again, this time with Netflix because the Broadway play of Newsies is on there, and I've watched it like 5 times. I'm not sure how I feel about the fight scene, but I'm sort of okay with the second half. Also, I'm currently writing another thing that's for school, and its a year long project, so updated might be a bit more spread out, but I promise to never abandon this fic!**

 **I hope you enjoyed,and a review is always appreciated :D**


	20. Fight or Flight

"Misako, I know you have faith in your husband, but I am a million percent sure that he is behind the earthquakes." The older woman tried to argue, but Artemis stopped her. "He may not be trying to kill Lloyd but he has been trying to kill the rest of us. Whether you like it or not he has found the other Island and is about to do some pretty shitty stuff."

The argument about the warlord had taken place two days ago. In that time the stone warriors had emerged from the earth and the ninja had done all they could to protect the citizens of Ninjago. Afterwards they set off for the Dark Island, making a quick stop in the middle of the ocean to rescue Zane's dad.

Currently they were hiding on the shore of the island (more like continent) and covering the Bounty to hide it. All of the ninja were bored and itching for a fight.

* * *

While most of the ninja had gotten their wish and got to explore the island to find the Temple of Light, Lloyd was forced to stay behind. Well, at least he had Artemis to keep him company.

She had taken it upon herself to keep watch once they had gotten to the island and was currently scouting the area around the Bounty. Lloyd, of course, had joined her.

The walk had been quiet, until Artemis asked a weird question.

"What's your favorite color?"

He laughed, not expecting this. "You already know, you asked me months ago. Why are you asking me again?"

She smiled, and Lloyd could have sworn that the sun shone a little brighter. "Yeah but things change, like your height. Plus I'm trying to lighten the mood. It's been so gloomy since we got here."

He rolled his eyes, "It's purple, like the color of your shirt. What's yours?"

Artemis bumped playfully against his side. She thought for a moment. "Red."

"Red?"

"Yup."

"Why red?" his heart sunk at the mention of the torturous color.

"Well it's associated with a lot of cool things, like Gryffindor house."

"I have no idea what that is."

"Apples, strawberries, cherries, dragons."

"I'm sensing a theme."

"Roses, romance," she rolled the r in the last word. Artemis's next words were quiet and rushed, he almost didn't catch them. "Your eyes."

His eyes unnerved people, why would she like them?

"Blood."

"Yes, the blood of our enemies!" She placed her hands on her hips and stood triumphantly.

"No, your blood." His voice was quiet, but the anger was evident. Artemis stared at him, her silver eyes wide in confusion and begging him to explain.

"Uh.. when Pythor held us captive um…" he watched her tense at the mention of of the snake. Lloyd knew this was a sensitive topic for her, why did he even open his big mouth? He had just opened a can of worms even he wasn't ready to deal with, but there was no turning back now. He tried his best to explain.

"I have hated the color red from the moment that serpentine punched you in the face and you started bleeding." Lloyd moved closer to her, red locked onto silver. "It killed me to see you hurt. And I don't know why but from the moment I met you I knew that you would be my best friend and I would never be able to let you go."

He had moved even closer, only a couple of inches in between them. He was cupping her face, his thumb tracing the scar on her left cheek.

"I don't care if I lose this fight, all that matters to me is that you're okay." His voice was barely above a whisper now.

Her face turned bright red, and suddenly that color didn't seem so bad anymore.

The moment was ruined when they heard something in the forest move, and Artemis stepped away from him. She cleared her throat, "We should probably be getting back."

Lloyd blinked, still trying to process what had just happened. "Oh, um, yeah sure."

The walk back to the Bounty was almost painful for the ninja. He was such an idiot! Why did he say that stuff to her! Why couldn't he just be a normal guy who hides his emotions? Who was he kidding, he would never be normal. His dad was almost seven feet tall, had four arms, and red eyes.

Besides, Lloyd had felt a weird connection with this woman from the moment he saw her in the scrapyard all those months ago. That connection had turned into a full blown crush when she had let him eat ice cream for breakfast. Lloyd knew he never had a chance with her, even as an adult. He was sure that she would always think of him as her "little green bean."

But a guy could dream couldn't he?

" _Are you, are you coming to the tree.._ "

Now she was singing, great. One more amazing quality that he adored about her, even if he had been tortured with Hamilton for two weeks.

" _Where they strung up a man, they say who murdered three. Strange things could happen here, no stranger would it be, if we met at midnight in the hanging tree…_ "

Her voice was low and smooth, combined with the tone of the song and their dark surroundings, made Lloyds skin crawl. He didn't interrupt her though, even if it was the creepiest song he had ever heard.

She continued to sing for a while, the song was catchy but did nothing to ease his nerves. Eventually Artemis finished but they were still nowhere near the Bounty.

"I'm pretty sure that we're lost." He said while glancing around at the unfamiliar surroundings.

"Nope, the Bounty is just around this rock." They rounded said rock (which was very large) and suddenly they were on the beach not twenty yards from their mobile home.

"How?" he gestured towards their destination.

"I dunno.." She said with a shrug. "It's like I've got GPS in my head."

Something seemed off about this to Lloyd. Not just with Artemis, with all of the ninja. They had been here only half a day and all six of them had felt some sort of change. Zane and Cole seemed to be more awake here and it was the opposite for Kai and Jay. Lloyd was more on edge than he had ever been, but it also felt like something was clouding his senses. Artemis had the most dramatic change. Along with the topographical map in her head, she seemed to feel more comfortable here. Her stance and the way she held herself was different to. Her shoulders were tense, and she seemed to be ready for a fight at any moment, her bat always in hand.

This Island had changed them, and Lloyd wasn't happy about it.

Luckily they got back just as the other guys did.

"We found the temple, but we attracted some unwanted attention." Kai explained while trying to get his breath back.

Artemis just sighed and facepalmed, "Okay let's get going."

The guys all nodded and moved towards the new vehicle that Julian had whipped up.

"Wait, Artemis why are you going?" Nya asked.

The six just looked at each other. Lloyd would have told her to stay back, but deep down he knew that she was apart of this. They all did.

In response, the young woman just shrugged and got into the new vehicle.

* * *

"NEVER again." Artemis dropped down from Kai's mech, landing heavily on the mountain side. The others followed suit.

Lloyd gazed up at the peak, the sun slowly setting behind it.

After Kai successfully delayed their pursuers they continued to search for the Temple of Light. Artemis found it. It was carved into the mountain side, so it didn't look to impressive. But when they entered, Lloyd immediately felt better.

They took a moment to look around before Cole called out, "Hey look its us!" He was pointing at the wall, and sure enough they were all covered with murals depicting their adventures.

"What the hell! I'm up there!" Artemis's voice rang out, and Lloyd checked again. To his dismay along with the red, blue, white, black, and green figures there was also a purple one.

Lloyds mind was racing a mile a minute, trying to find a reason that it couldn't be her. But the more he thought about it, the more her presence made sense.

While the Green Ninja was having a mild internal crisis, the other's attention had switched to the center of the room. Four large wooden beams stood tall, holding up the ceiling and supporting a large bell. He followed Artemis mindlessly.

They began shifting through the dust and dirt that had accumulated over the centuries, revealing different symbols by each post. Lloyd and Artemis uncovered the largest etching, it was the sun eclipsing the moon.

Suddenly they heard the war cries of the stone army and Lloyd did what his instincts told him to. He hit the bell.

There was a lot of bright light and after it was gone, everyone was different. He and the other guys gi had changed, their normal color accenting black. The four also held some sort of weapon in their hands, Lloyd had no weapon but he definitely felt more powerful.

He glanced at Artemis who was still standing next to him. While her clothing hadn't changed, she now wore black arm braces. He didn't know what he was expecting but this was definitely more than what he wanted.

Not a moment later the fighting started, and Lloyd was happy to find out that they could destroy their enemies. Artemis was the only one not doing any damage. Her bat had been badly dented and was unusable, instead she was ducking and dodging any warrior near her and redirecting them to the ninja. But it all went downhill when he tried using his newly acquired power.

Their leader, a tall warrior with four arms and a sword in each hand, was standing in front of him holding one of his weapons to Artemis's throat. That bastard was bargaining his life for hers. He could already see a bead of red flowing down the blade.

Lloyd clenched his fists, feeling his power coursing through his veins begging to be released. He could destroy that asshole and turn him into dust, but what if he lost control and hurt Artemis too?

Silver eyes caught his. They screamed at him to not worry about her and just destroy her captor. They told him that she would be fine.

 _But what if she wasn't?_

The leader took advantage of Lloyd's hesitation and had been slowly backing away the entire time. Before the Green ninja knew what was happening, the warrior was gone, taking Artemis with him.

Lloyd's first instinct was to punch something, so he turned to the nearest object and did just that. Unfortunately his target had been Zane's metal body. The nindroid didn't even budge.

Why hadn't he payed closer attention to her! She didn't even have proper training! This was all his fault, he was the one responsible for letting Artemis get captured, and there was no telling what his father would do to her.

With an aching hand and a broken heart he faced his friends, "We have to go after her."

"Lloyd, we need to go back to the Bounty. It's what she would have wanted." Kai explained calmly.

Jay reacted faster that Lloyd this time. "They took my little sister Kai! How would you feel if they got Nya?" The fire ninja flinched. "I agree with Lloyd, we go get her now."

"It would be irrational to go after them now. Like Kai said, Artemis would have wanted us to return to the Destiny's Bounty and form a proper plan" Zane's input was met with two hostile glares.

They all looked a Cole, he was the deciding vote.

"I hate to say this, but we need to go back. Artemis is tough, she'll be able to hold out long enough for us to make a plan."

Lloyd hated himself for agreeing with the earth ninja.

As they made to leave, Lloyd spotted something out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw that it was her bat. It was badly dented and completely useless, just like him.

* * *

In the void between worlds the Gods watched in silence as Artemis and Lloyd were separated.

Skaidi broke the tense silence. "The moon loves the sun so much, that she is willing to die each morning just to let him see another dawn."

Helios and Selene wove their fingers together, gripping the other's hand tightly. Their auras mixing and creating the perfect sunset.

* * *

 **I loved writing this chapter, I'm not super happy with the action part, but i can live with it.**

 **We have officially gotten to delve deeper into Lloyd's mind :D I'm trying not to make Lloyd have feelings and stuff unlike in the show, and further on in the story he gets lots of emotions and you begin to hate him :D Dont worry that isn't for a long while though.**

 **Next time, we go back to Artemis and you get to see what exactly happens to our lovely heroine.**

 **I hope you enjoyed and a review is always appreciated :D**


	21. MIA

This was the worst day _ever_.

Her day had started off fine, the walk with Lloyd had been nice, if not a little confusing. She had also discovered that she knew this island like the back of her hand. What worried her about the island though is that it didn't feel right, like it's infected. Thankfully the murals on the temple walls proved that she hadn't been sent to this dimension for no reason.

Her day went downhill when she had to hitch a ride on Kai's new mech, which was always terrifying. Second, she fought a fight where she couldn't hurt anybody. And last, but certainly not least, she had been kidnapped by the enemy, and was now being dragged back to their camp.

One of the few good things that had happened at the temple of light, was in fact the bright light that Lloyd had created when he hit the bell. Artemis had felt like she had woken up from a nap that had lasted her whole life. She felt so much more powerful, but apparently that wasn't enough to stop her from being grabbed by her hair, held a couple feet in the air, and have a sword held to her throat. Afterwards, her hands had been tied behind her back, her new arm braces keeping her wrists from getting raw.

When they got to the camp, Artemis was immediately led into a large fancy tent. It was dark inside, but there was enough light to make out a throne. For some reason, it was shaped like a helmet. And guess who was sitting on it. Thats right, Garmadon.

The warlord stood up and slowly walked towards her. Standing near a seven foot tall man is not fun when you're only 5'2". It's even less fun when said male has four arms, blood red eyes, and jet black skin. Not to mention the imposing aura he gave off.

When he was close enough, Artemis launched forward and kicked the very scary guy in the groin. He didn't move. She looked up at his face to see some mild discomfort, but it was mostly covered up by a scowl.

"Have some class, this isn't a bar fight." The warlord said calmly.

Welp, now she was pissed and ready to press some buttons. Plus now was a great time to update him on his son.

Not her best idea.

"You know, Lloyd has really changed alot since the last time you saw him." She smirked evilly as Garmadon gave her a confused look. "When you revived the grundle Lloyd stopped it by using _Tomorrow's Tea_. He's about my age now."

In a flash, the warlord had picked her up by her throat, holding her in the air with one arm. His hand slowly constricting her windpipe.

"You're lying." His voice low and menacing. Artemis just smirked again, her lungs screaming for air. His grip tightened, "I should kill you."

"What are you doing fool!" A voice, raspy and low, came from some dark corner. "Put her down." Garmadon did as he was ordered, except that he dropped her two feet.

Her hands were still tied behind her back, so Artemis had no way to break her fall, she ended up landing on her face. She didn't care, she could breath again, and sucked in several greedy breaths before coughing.

The warlord turned towards a cloud of some sort. Artemis stared at it for a moment, trying to remember who this was, but her mind was a bit preoccupied with breathing. Whatever it was was a dark purple, and it didn't really seem like a cloud. The energy surrounding felt polluted and wrong to her, and just down right evil. This must be what was hurting the island, this was the Overlord.

The fart cloud paid her no heed, instead focusing on his minion. "You idiot. She is just as powerful as your son, even more so here. Her patron god rules this island. And even I, with all my powers cannot control the heavens." Those words sent a chill down her spine. "And if you kill her, it just gives your son another reason to fight you."

Garmadon thought for a moment, clearly he trusted that asshat as he was taking it words into consideration. "Fine," He turned to his general, who hadn't moved the whole time, "take her and find out where my son is hiding."

The stone warrior nodded and dragged her away.

* * *

Her back was killing her.

The warriors had obviously gotten some order to not do much damage to her, so of course their solution was to whip her, while she was tied to a post.

She hadn't given away any information. Artemis just hummed "Wait For It" the entire time, which only seemed to make her interrogators mad. Because of this they ended with slashing her right shoulder blade with a knife.

At this point she would either bleed out, or be killed for causing a mess. But she held on, determined to be awake when her friends got there. The pain may have prevented sleep, but it certainly distorted time.

At one time Artemis could have sworn that Nya was next to her trying to stop the bleeding. But a second later and her friend was gone.

Suddenly she wasn't in the cell anymore. Artemis wasn't even sure where she was. It was really dark, like pitch-black-can't-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face-dark. But this darkness wasn't terrifying or menacing, it was comforting.

A woman appeared in front of her. Gravity defying space hear, a cool space dress, pale skin, and the moon on her hip. Artemis knew her.

"Where am I?" her voice echoed endlessly.

"Physically, you're in the Overlord's camp. Spiritually, we're in your soul."

"Oh…" Artemis didn't feel like questioning this. "Um.. why are we here?"

The woman shrugged, "I don't know, you called me." Her metallic silver eyes, stared into the silver in front of her. "But I'm glad you did, because I need to talk to you. I need to tell you how the real story behind the Overlord."

"Um.. okay…" Apparently, the brunette didn't have a choice on whether or not she wanted to hear this story, because Miss Space Lady had already started.

"Long ago, before there was anything, there was the Ancient one. After an eternity of loneliness, they created a friend, they created darkness and called her Nyx. Eventually she got bored, so she created the stars. They peppered her being and made her feel pretty. That excitement soon ended so once more she created something else, this something was the earth. Of course this developed its own conscience and called himself Atlas. Nyx got a little creation happy and decided to create Skaidi, for any moisture that gathered on Atlas became ice.

"The Ancient One saw that in a world of darkness no life could flourish, they created the sun to warm the earth. Helios was born. With him came the growth of plants, and the atmosphere. With the heat from his light came humidity, then thunderstorms. Jupiter was a bit of a loose cannon in the beginning. With the heat also came fire, and from fire Xiuhtecuhtli.

"Nyx, however, wasn't to happy with the new celestial being. She saw him as a nuisance. But before the Ancient one went to sleep for the next millennium, they created one last thing. The moon. They gave it to their eldest daughter, who changed her name to Selene once receiving it. These were the six primordial gods.

"After a few thousand years of boredom, Xiuhtecuhtli and Atlas created humans, and in return they worshiped us. Because of them new gods were created, and it was a time of peace. But one man ruined it all.

"This man created a new magic, it was the ability to steal the power from a god. When he used it, he managed to steal a small fraction of Nyx, the purest, darkest part of her, and use it for himself. The gods and humans fought his shadows together, while the First Spinjitzu Master and the primordials devised a plan to defeat the Overlord. The four Elements created their weapons, believing that this would be enough to stop him. But they were too late, the Overlord had already created his stone army. So, The First Master decided that it would best to split Ninjago in two, separating light from dark. Separating my land, from Helios's. As the world was split, I managed to contain the Overlord to this island, promising him that his mortal body would never see Ninjago again."

Artemis just stared unbelievingly at the goddess in front of her. "But, why did you need to tell me this?"

Selene to a deep breath, "Even the night can be swayed by shadows." She placed her hand s on the woman's shoulders, gripping them tightly, "You must not be swayed by it, you must stay strong Artemis."

"Artemis!" A faint voice called to her, pulling her away from the goddess.

She smiled kindly at her, then gestured behind the brunette, "Go, your Helios awaits."

A bright light overtook her, and suddenly she was back in the cramped room that they called a cell. Her back ached, and she could still feel blood oozing out of her wounds. She couldn't really remember what happened, but decided that it was a hallucination.

"Artemis!" the voice was closer now, and why did it sound like Lloyd?

Someone gripped her shoulders and tipped her head upwards. She opened her eyes to see a pair of concerned crimson ones and pale golden hair.

"Lloyd…" She gave him a small smile, "Knew you'd come."

He smiled back at her, "Well, I couldn't leave my other half behind." The ninja untied her hands, and helped her stand up. "Come on let's get out of here. Can you walk?" She nodded, knowing that she was totally lying.

At the first step, Artemis crumbled. Lloyd managed to catch her, but he placed a hand on her back and she hissed in pain. He quickly removed it and paused. She didn't know what he was doing, but after a moment the Green Ninja picked her up bridal style and ran back towards the others.

Artemis tried really hard not to pass out, but that is really hard when someone is agitating angry cuts.

"Guys, she's hurt pretty bad, we need to get her back to the Bounty." She didn't hear much protest from the others, but after a while (and a bumpy ride) she was transferred to a different set of arms.

There was a lot of screaming and loud noises, such as explosions. Artemis was unwilling to open her eyes to see what was going on. After a while she was set down on the ground and told to stay put.

Yeah, like she was going anywhere.

* * *

 **Yo, I'm not to fond of this chapter. I saw it going a bit differently in my head, but sometimes the words make you do something different. Plus I'm not sure that my writing does my imagination any justice (I have seven different story lines that i keep track of in my head).  
Anyway, I want to purpose a challenge to all of my loyal readers. I want to see if you can find all of the random pop-culture references I make in this story, because there are quite a few:D**

 **I hope you enjoyed, and a review is always appreciated:D**


	22. Eclipse

Two days.

She had been held captive for two days. There was blood everywhere, her back was a wreck, and it was all his fault. Lloyd was miserable. He should have insisted they rescue her earlier. Some insane part of him must have thought that Artemis would have come back unharmed.

There was so much red.

After the fight on the beach, and the Overlord and his army had disappeared through a portal, Julian had insisted on fixing he and Artemis up. Lloyd had broken his leg in the fight and the bone needed to be set. That was not fun. It was even less fun watching Artemis have her back sewn up. Sadly, she wasn't as passed out as everyone thought, and woke up during the first stitch.

Lloyd, however, couldn't bear to watch, so he hobbled over to the tree line (with Kia's help) and started banging his head on a tree. It was a small punishment, considering what she was going through.

"You know you're not the only one upset about all of this." He stopped hitting his head and rested it on the tree, deciding to listen to Kai. "We don't know what the hell just happened, my sister is now evil, and we're stuck on this god's forsaken island." The Fire Ninja paused for a moment and nudged Lloyd's arm. "And why the hell are you over here? _You_ should be the one sitting with Artie and telling her to stay still, not Cole."

He just sighed, not giving Kai a response, so the older ninja left him to wallow. In all honesty Lloyd didn't feel like he deserved to be anywhere near Artemis, he'd broken his promise to protect her. He couldn't keep her safe, and that killed him. Hell, any of the other guys could probably do a better job than him.

* * *

"If you stay still it wont hurt as much."

"The only other time I've gotten stitches, I was passed out for, like, three days. So shut up."

Cole just rolled his eyes at her argument. He had initially come over to help distract Artemis from the needle slowly pulling her back together. But sadly she was only in the mood to complain and dish out mild death threats to nobody in particular. Only the large slash on her shoulder needed stitches, the rest of the cuts were shallow enough that they could just wrap them up. Moving was a bitch afterwards.

After Julian had fixed up her back, Artemis spotted Lloyd near the tree line. She walked over to see what was going on with him. His head was resting on a tree and he looked particularly distressed.

"You look like someone just ran over your puppy." The ninja sighed and glanced at her. His crimson eyes were hollow and tired. Those were the eyes of someone who had given up, and she wasn't about to let that happen. "Look, we weren't supposed to win here." He gave her a skeptical look. "We win in Ninjago City. So I suggest that you let go of whatever is bringing you down and go talk to the team, 'cause I think I just saw Kai threatening to swim an entire ocean."

He sighed, straightened, and the two hobbled over to the group. Lloyd did an excellent job of faking his confidance, and managed to get everyone out of the dumps.

"So, Artie, what now?" Lloyd asked her.

Artemis finally got some much needed color back on her face as she started to blush. "Heh.. Um.. Well.. I completely forgot." Everyone sighed and suddenly her embarrassment was replaced with anger. "Hey! It's been.." She counted on her fingers for a moment, " _FIVE_ years since i last saw the show! So _excuse_ me for forgetting a few things over the years."

They stopped complaining after that. In fact luck actually seemed to be on their side at the moment. Zane's falcon and Misako's research told them to go back to the Temple of Light (they almost had to knock Artemis out to get on Kai's mech. Mild death threats were once again a problem).

* * *

By some miracle they were now on their way back to Ninjago. Lloyd riding in his fancy new mech, while everyone else rode on the Ultra Dragon. They were also making way better time that when they had on the Bounty.

The only problem they had was Lloyd. Whatever had happened when they revealed the mech had completely overwhelmed him. So now they were headed to the biggest fight of their lives, saying that their star player was ready to go, when in reality he looked like he was hungover. Not their best play.

When they got to the city, they dropped off the boys at the fight. Those who were still on the dragon (Wu, Julian, Misako, and Artemis) were left wondering what they were supposed to do now.

Clouds covered the city, preventing any light from shining. The stone army had done a fabulous job of wrecking the city, damaged buildings were the primary example. They could even see some civilians on the streets running from either stone warriors or those who had been corrupted. And the Overlord had fully transformed into a freaky dragon monster and was at the top of a building.

Suddenly Artemis felt a weird tingling on the back of her neck. She instantly knew that something bad had happened. Lloyd was in trouble.

"Get me to the guys now."

"Artemis don't be crazy, you could get hurt down there." Misako scolded her like a child.

Something inside of her snapped when the older woman spoke. She grabbed Misako's shirt and pulled her down to eye level (everyone is taller than her). "Listen here you little shit, you better get me to Lloyd or I will jump off of this dragon and get to him myself."

* * *

Thanks to her excellent negotiation skills, they agreed to drop off Artemis near the guys. Lloyd's mech had been downed and now the ninja were mostly pinned, unable to go anywhere. She saw the Green Ninja trying to fight alongside the others, but his leg was preventing him from doing much.

Her heart stopped when a stone warrior aimed to strike him from behind.

"LLOYD!" His head whipped towards her voice. Artemis ran to him as fast as she could, pushed him out of the was and made to give the warrior a nasty right hook.

What she didn't expect was for her world to go dark for a second. She knew that she hadn't passed out, she could feel her fist connect with the warriors face and break it. But when the world came back everything was different.

It felt like some sort of restraint had been taken off of her and she could move freely for the first time in her life. That wasn't all though. Some strange entity had thought it would be a good idea to take her favorite purple shirt and replace it with some stupid matching outfit. That idiot was totally gonna get punched.

Her clothing did in fact match what the other guys were wearing. Though her accent color was purple (good call strange entity) and anything that was gold on Lloyd was silver for her. The metallic color had even changed on Cole and Zane's gi too.

This was weird and Artemis didn't really like it, but apparently the universe likes to make important decisions for her.

They all had approximately two seconds to get over their shock before the fighting started again.

After a few seconds Jay called out to her, "Get Lloyd to the top! We'll hold off these guys!"

She nodded and immediately went over to the hurt ninja, draped his arm over her shoulder and made for the stairs along the outside of the tower. Once they were a ways up, Artemis decided some light conversation would be a nice distraction.

"So, how you feelin'?" She spoke through gritted teeth. Her shoulder was once again killing her, and she must have popped a couple of stitches for she could feel something warm and sticky flowing down her back.

"Like shit." he sounded exhausted.

"Same."

"No you don't." She gave him the please-elaborate face, so he did. "I think when we summoned the mech, it also did something to me, 'cause it feels like all of my senses have been cranked up to fifteen."

She was silent for a moment, not really sure what to say. Artemis was about to comment when something dark whizzed passed their heads. Lloyd's instincts must have kicked in because he slammed them into the wall to prevent them from being hit.

Apparently Artemis was slightly suicidal, because she peered around the corner to see a monochrome Nya ontop of a moving machine gun that shot shadows. But it must have reached the end of its track, because it wasn't moving any further.

A second later the other ninja arrived.

"Hey Kai we found Nya," Artemi announced, "She's still evil and shooting at us."

The Fire Ninja sighed, "We'll distract her as long as we can." Then proceeded to go beyond the corner and distract his sister, the other three close behind.

A few seconds later the two of them ran out from their cover and raced up the stairs. They were three fourths of the way up before they encountered Nya again. Luckily they heard her moving weapon before they actually got to them.

"Lloyd you need to keep going." She unhooked his arm from around her shoulders. He looked at her like she was crazy.

"No way am I leaving you here-" Artemis could tell he was about to protest even more, so she stopped him in the most effective way possible. She kissed him.

In reality it was just a simple peck on the lips, nothing more nothing less. That simple contact made the stars align and everything lighter. Unlike Lloyd, who had turned red and was completely flabbergasted, she was a bit more in control of herself. Before he could realize what was going on she turned him around and pushed him up the steps.

Nya arrived soon after Lloyd's departure and began shooting at her. Thankfully Artemis was able to dodge the attacks.

She knew that she wasn't going to win this fight. She was up against a giant gun for pete's sake! Where was that magic mojo she had a few minutes ago?

There was no more unaffected stairwell, all of it was now consumed in shadows, and it was slowly trying to consume her. But as those shadows crawled up her led, Artemis felt the power she was looking for.

Using all of her strength, she ordered the shadows to capture her friend. Half a second later they shot off of the building and moulded around the young woman, effectively immobilizing her.

Artemis staggered backwards. Almost all of her energy was drained, and now she just wanted to take a nap. Sadly that was not an option, the guys had reached her, and they were all corrupted. She sighed and silently pleaded with the universe to stop fucking with her.

Cole charged at her first. He was trying to use his size and weight to his advantage and just grab her. Artemis ducked underneath one of his outstretched arms, then grabbed it. She planted her feet firmly on the ground and swung the sasquatch around in an arch. Cole crashed into Zane head first. Thankfully the nindroid couldn't get up because the Earth Ninja was dead weight on him, the impact knocked him out.

Kai came at her next, aiming to punch her. Artemis barely managed to dodge in time. She the proceeded to kick him in the nuts. That stopped him in his tracks. Just as he was about to start fighting again she pushed him down the stairs.

Jay was the last one standing. Artemis was standing near the wall, and the Lightning Ninja must have planned to corner her. But he was not expecting her to dodge and run face first into the wall. Nor was he expecting her to repeatedly slam his face into it.

Not a moment after Jay went down, a bright golden light appeared. It enveloped everything in its glow, sparing no one. While the light was comforting, it also burned Artemis's skin. It felt like she had the worst sunburn ever.

Barely five seconds had passed before the light disappeared and Artemis was sitting in a giant crater. She gazed around the edge and saw a city skyline. The light must have just wiped out the tower the Overlord was and the surrounding city block.

She looked inside this time and spotted the guys a couple of feet away. Lloyd however was ten feet from her laying down and groaning lightly. His gi had completely changed. The black had changed into gold, so now he looked like really valuable tin foil.

Artemis slowly got up and moved towards him. Her back protested the movement and pleaded with her to stop. She did, just when she reached the very shiny ninja. His crimson eyes flickered open, and smiled when he saw her.

"Hey, you're okay." Lloyd said quietly, his hand moving to hold hers.

She smirked, "Well, I couldn't leave my other half."

A bark of laughter escaped from him but he soon grabbed his middle and groaned. "I think I have some broken ribs."

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure all of my stitches are broken. Hospital?"

"Hospital."

* * *

 **Hello friends! I really like this chapter, but boy was it a bitch to write!  
I saw the Lego Ninjago movie last Saturday and I loved it! While it may not be everyone's cup of tea I thought it was really cute and funny.  
** **Next chapter we get more explanations and stuff about everything! Plus it means I don't have an episode to follow, YAY!  
Also I have come up with official ship names! Cole x Artie is Lunar Eclipse, while Lloyd x Artie is Solar Eclipse 3**

 **I hope you enjoyed, reviews are always welcome :D**


	23. Time to Relax

So it turns out that Artemis hurt the guy's a bit more that she meant to. She had dislocated Cole's shoulder, and given Jay a terrible concussion. Kai had broken his wrist, and she sincerely hoped it wasn't because she had pushed him down the stairs (it was). Thankfully, Nya only had a slight headache, and she hadn't even touched Zane.

They spent the next couple of hours in the hospital. Cole nearly cried when the nurse popped his shoulder back into place (he did cry, just don't tell him). Lloyd's leg hadn't been properly set, and screamed when they reset it. Jay was told not to fall asleep, and Artemis was told not to move to much. Sadly, Kai could still have children.

Their old apartment had already been leased to somebody else, so they were forced to stay with Jay's parents. The boys slept in the living room, while the girls got Jay's room. The older adults were looking for a more permanent address than the Walker residence. No one was keen on imposing on the couple for long.

Currently, Artemis and Lloyd were sitting on the couch together, the other four at the kitchen table a few feet away. The now Golden Ninja was resting his head on her shoulder, lightly dosing. They were all exhausted, but he seemed to have burned through more energy than than the rest of them, and had been mostly sleeping for the past day.

Jay was almost in the same boat. But along with exhaustion he was dealing with nausea, headaches, confusion, and slight memory loss. Luckily it wasn't as bad as the day earlier. Before he had trouble remember what his name was, now he just had trouble finding a few words.

Garmadon chose this peaceful moment to enter the room. His evilness had disappeared when Lloyd defeated the Overlord. Sadly he lost half a foot in height, and his extra arms. His eyes were no longer a glowing blood red, they were now a calm maroon.

There were quiet murmurs of greeting from the young adults.

"I have some insight about what happened and thought you all would like to know." They perked up, all attention on the ex-warlord. "When you unlocked Lloyd's golden power, you're essentially holding the power button on to his full potential, and giving an all access pass to Helios's godly powers."

"Would the same thing have happened to Artemis?" Cole inquired.

"Most likely, but you would have had to do it at the Temple of Darkness instead. The Overlord also told me that only the power of the six primordial gods could defeat him."

"So…" Jay began to talk, slowly piecing his words together like a puzzle. "You're saying we have the power of the gods?"

Garmadon nodded.

"Wait, does this mean we can smite whoever we want?" Kai asked, his voice a little too hopeful.

The older man sighed. "No, it does not. In fact you six aren't the only ones with elemental powers." They looked at him in confusion. "Before the gods stopped interfering with mortal world, they blessed certain people with a portion of their power. The only one's who didn't," he nodded towards the two on the couch, "where Helios and Selene. Until now, obviously."

Lloyd narrowed his eyes, obviously thinking. After a few moments he spoke, "So, Artemis and I represent the two oldest, and most powerful gods?"

"Technically, Selene is the eldest. Then she created Atlas and Skaidi. By human standards Helios is basically the misbehaving middle child." The nindroid interjected.

Lloyd glared at the Ice Ninja, "Thank you Zane."

"Wait, if Helios is the cranky middle child, who's the baby of the bunch?" Cole asked, suddenly excited.

"That would be Xiuhtecuhtli, Kai's patron."

"OH, COME ON!"

"HA!"

Garmadon left the group to their strange discussion, and teasing. They talked loudly and happily for a few more minutes, once they quieted down Zane noticed something.

"Artemis, are you okay? You haven't said a word about this."

That was true, the young woman hadn't said anything about the whole situation. In fact, she had been staring at Lloyd the entire time. She paid the nindroids question no attention, instead she grabbed the Golden ninja's head and pulled it close to hers, so their foreheads and noses were pressed together. Her hands were on either side of his noggin and was staring deeply into his eyes.

After a few seconds she spoke, "Your eyes are changing color."

"What?" With all of his blood rushing to his face, Lloyd was totally sure he had heard her correctly.

"Your eyes aren't completely red any more, there are flecks of gold in them now." She stared into the orbs, as if she was trying to make the new color go away. "I don't like it."

Sensing that Artemis wouldn't be moving for anytime soon, Lloyd took matters into his own hands.

"Well, your eyes are still beautiful." Then he moved out of her grasp and kissed her on the cheek. His plan worked a little too well though. Along with letting him go, Artemis's face lit up like a christmas tree. She got up almost robotically from the couch and left the trailer.

There was a moment of silence after the door closed.

"I think you broke her." Kai's statement made his heart plummet.

Lloyd gave a very distressed look towards his older friends. They were the only source of advice on the matters of the heart, and right now he was desperate.

Jay raised an eyebrow, "Go get her, you idiot." That was all the motivation he needed. The ninja grabbed his newly acquired crutches and was off.

Outside, Artemis was pacing around in a circle. Her face was still red, but there was a troubled look on it now.

Lloyd quickly hobbled over to her. "Hey, Artie, I'm sorry if I crossed a line but-"

"No, you're fine, you just caught me off guard." She had stopped pacing and was now facing him. "The thing is I've never been in a relationship like this before, and I've seen how they can deteriorate. I've also seen what a toxic relationship can do to people. I just don't want that to happen to us."

He pulled her into a tight hug. "It won't, I promise. I won't let it happen, I've had a crush on you for too long to lose you. Besides, were a literal power couple, we'll be fine."

* * *

 **I'm not sure how I feel about the end of the chapter, it was a lot cuter in my head. The next chapter or two are just gonna be filler because of reasons and stuff. Also, my teacher (who is the manliest man I know) dislocated his shoulder a few weeks ago, and he said he almost cried trying to put it back in, so Cole's reaction is appropriate (just FYI).**

 **I hope you enjoyed and a review is always** **appreciated :D**


	24. A Year in the Life

Jay won the bet for who kissed who first. The other three were pissed because he didn't even remember joining the bet. But they quickly recovered when Artemis asked when her training would start.

"Once your back is better, Zane will start training you, as he is the only one who _isn't_ hurt."

"Hehe, yeah sorry about that."

Zane actually began training her before her back was completely healed, but he was only teaching her how to meditate, not fight. It was super boring, but useful nonetheless.

They actually had to postpone her training for a few weeks, because Misako found them a place to live! Well, actually she found the Temple of Darkness first. Unlike its opposite, this temple was built into the base of a mountain.

Luckily, the valley it was located in also hosted an extremely rundown and decrepit monastery, that no one had set foot in for a very long time. So of course, they decided to refurbish it, adding modern bathrooms, a better kitchen, and most importantly added wifi. Everyone even got their own room! Except for Artemis and Lloyd.

The two were now unable to sleep if the other wasn't, at most, ten feet away and in their line of sight. This was mostly because of nightmares that usually revolved around the other dying. It wasn't fun for anybody, so they decided it would be better for them to stay together, rather than apart.

* * *

When her training resumed, Jay was well enough to help teach her hand-to hand combat. But she had to promise not to aim for his head ever again. That training ended when Artemis was able to use math and statistics to her advantage. Basically she just figured out the best way to trip her opponent then pin them down.

Weapons training was much different.

"I thought you would have chosen the bo staff." Kai stated after she had chosen her weapon.

Artemis raised an eyebrow at him, "That thing is basically as tall as me, no thanks." A malicious gleam suddenly entered her eyes. "But, with knives, I can get up close, since I'm so short, and just stab my victim."

"You mean opponent."

"Yeah, that."

The guys were great teachers, when they were all able to join, but Lloyd's teaching was relentless. He made sure that she knew every move inside and out. He beat her in every mock fight, stressing that her opponents would not fight fairly. Lloyd would be damned if Artemis couldn't protect herself properly.

The only one who went easy on her was Cole. At first, Artemis thought it was because his shoulder was still bothering him, but even weeks after he was deemed better, the tall ninja still treated her like porcelain. Eventually the trainee dreaded whenever it was his turn to spar with her, as each fight was easily won.

* * *

A couple weeks into October, Lloyd decided that now was the best time to ask Artemis out on a real date. Before they had only spent their 'date nights' doing trivial things, like play bored games. But this time, he wanted to do something special for the newest ninja. So, Lloyd asked the best chef he knew to help him make an amazing diner, Zane. The nindroid happily agreed and taught the anxious blond how to cook.

The location of the date wasn't anything special, it was just a simple picnic at sunset with candles and flowers. Artemis loved it and thought the food was great. When the sun went down, they blew out the candles and lay down to stare at the stars. While Artemis pointed out all of the constellations she had learned, Lloyd just stared at the beautiful sight of the woman next to him enjoying herself.

"You know, they say the reason why there's no constellation of Helios is because Selene felt that any picture would just have been a cheap imitation of the real thing." The now Purple Ninja happily spurting out facts about the night sky for the past ten minutes.

Lloyd smiled, "Yeah? Where'd you learn that?"

His question was rewarded with a short laugh, then he was elbowed in the side. "What do you think I've been reading about?"

"I dunno, stuff?"

She let out a breathy laugh. After a moment, Artemis changed position so that she was now curled into his side, her head resting on his shoulder.

Over the few months that they had been together, Lloyd had noticed that his girlfriend wasn't very touchy feely. Any time he hugged her from behind, he would get judo flipped. So he let her initiate anything beyond hand holding, considering the first time he kissed her Artemis had freaked out and left him to figure out what had happened. But, she was definitely getting better about the hugs, and had stopped freaking out when he kissed her cheek.

A couple hours later, the two returned to the monastery, they were greeted by everyone, and bombarded with questions of how their date went. They also had to put up with a lot of eyebrow wiggling from Kai and Nya ( _what does that even mean?_ ).

Artemis handled most of the questions, her face very red, while Lloyd continued to get weird looks from the two siblings. But then, Artie said something that changed his life.

"The dofus hasn't even really kissed me yet guys, stop giving him a hard time." That was directed towards the two who kept pestering Lloyd with strange looks. "I have to start everything."

Lloyd thought for a moment while everyone laughed. Now was the time to do something stupid, in front of everyone (including his parents, and uncle). So, he grabbed her face, gently, turned her face towards his, and without hesitating slammed his lips on to hers.

The room around them faded and there was nothing else in the world except her. She still tasted like the chocolate covered strawberries they had eaten earlier. Kissing her was like a drug that he could never get enough of. What made it even better was that he was kissing the woman of his dreams. Nothing and no one in this world would ever compare to how amazing she made him feel. Without Artemis, he would be lost.

When they broke apart, his surroundings came rushing back. Many of his friends were laughing hysterically, while Kai wolf whistled, and he heard Cole pretending to throw up. Then Lloyd noticed his family looking slightly uncomfortable, but proud at the same time.

Both went bright red, and ran out of the room together.

* * *

October is always a fun month. It's fun on the internet and it's fun IRL. All because of one thing, Halloween, and Artemis was determined to continue to celebrate it, even in a different dimension. However there were a few complications.

"What's Halloween?"

That was the only time Artemis did a genuine spit take.

She stared at her friends in horror. "Halloween is the best holiday ever. You get to dress up in costumes and get free candy from strangers!"

Cole just looked at her in confusion, "When is this celebrated?"

"On the spoopiest day of the year, October 31st."

"That's the Day of the Departed."

"You guys celebrate the Day of the Dead?"

"Departed." Zane corrected, "It's when we celebrate our ancestors."

"Even if your ancestors are serial killers and stuff?" They all looked at her like she was crazy. "Oh yeah, I forgot you guys practically have world peace."

Lloyd cleared his throat and changed the topic, "What do you do to celebrate Halloween?"

Artemis spent the next ten minutes explaining the intricacies of how the holiday worked. "But I'll probably just stay in and watch some scary movies, while you guys do your own thing."

Worst Halloween ever.

* * *

Learning how to use the elements was a pain. It took months for Artemis to actually summon anything. It was painstakingly slow, but once she was able to summon ice, the others came quickly (Her rendition of "Let it Go" wasn't very popular).

Once Artemis figured out the basic elements, it was time to master her own. The only problem was she couldn't feel it anymore. Lloyd tried to help by being positive and encouraging. But it was only making the brunette more frustrated, and his teaching career ended when she refused to let him teach her anymore.

That's when Garmadon stepped in. He figured that the others would be no help during this part of her elemental training.

The two sat in the lotus position facing each other.

"I assume that they have taught you how to look for your power?" the ex warlord asked.

Artemis let out a frustrated sigh, "Yeah, but everytime I look I can't find anything! It's way too dark!" Garmadon raised an eyebrow, and suddenly she felt very stupid. "Oh…"

For the next few weeks everyone feared the tiny spheres of darkness that randomly appeared whenever she trained. If some unfortunate soul walked it said sphere, it would usually attach itself to their face and blind its victim. The only person who could remove it was Artemis, and it usually took her a few tries to dispel it.

After a few months she could control the shadows with very little effort. She could blind her opponents in a fight or just simply wrap them up in pure darkness until they surrendered. Artemis was truly a force to be reckoned with.

* * *

It was a normal morning. Everybody was up and eating breakfast at six am except Artemis, who refused to get up before seven. But this particular morning was a bit different, everyone was wrapped up in blankets and had at least two pairs of socks on, except for Zane and Kai. It had snowed last night and they may have forgotten to fix the heater, and almost everyone was as close as the could get to the fire ninja.

The cold did not stop them from enjoying breakfast, nor did it stop the young adults from causing mischief.

"How long do you think it's gonna take Mini Me to notice how cold it is?" her surrogate brother joked, not intending it to go much further.

"Probably about an hour." Nya replied.

"I say ten minutes." said the nindroid.

Before anyone could add anything, they heard loud footsteps pounding their way. The woman in question flew by the door to the kitchen, still in her pajamas and a scarf trailing behind her.

"SNOW!" Her loud voice was filled with excitement, and for the brief second that they all saw her they spotted a large smile on her face.

Lloyd reluctantly got up from his very warm seat and went to check on his girlfriend. When outside, he saw her lying face up and moving her arms and legs back and forth in the snow. She got up a few seconds later and stared proudly at her work, then smiled at Lloyd.

"It's a snow angel."

He just sighed and shifted uncomfortably in the cold weather. "How about we go inside." He said hopefully.

Artemis just looked at him like he was crazy, "Dude, I never get to see snow! And now I've got several inches of it right here!" She then grabbed a hand full and chucked it at her boyfriend.

Ten minutes later, after an intense snowball fight, the two went inside to change and put on warmer clothing so they could go back out.

* * *

While Christmas, and other December Holidays weren't a thing in this world, they did have the Winter Solstice Celebration. It did have many similarities to Christmas, like gift giving and the decorated pine tree, it was not about birth of a religious figure. Lloyd's birthday was also close enough to the holiday that they just celebrated it on the same day.

A few months after the Holidays ended, Wu issued a test, and sadly it wasn't multiple choice. It wasn't just Artemis he was testing though, it was all of the ninja. The old man even kept it secret from them. All they knew was that Wu would call them into the room, and when you left you were _forbidden_ to tell the others what the test was.

Artemis was the last to go.

Inside was nothing special, just Wu sitting in front of an incense thingy, that was producing grey smoke. She sat on the other side of him and waited for the old man to speak.

"I would like you to meditate please."

She raised an eyebrow, but didn't object. The young woman just shifted positions and did as she was told. After a few moments of deep breathing, she saw something.

It was Lloyd, standing tall and proud surrounded by golden light. He radiated confidence and the smirk on his face shone like the sun.

A second later the image in her mind changed. Lloyd was still the focus, but this time he was hurt, the pain evident on his face. His blond hair was dirty and his face was covered in smudges. Thick smoke clouded the picture, so she guessed that there was a fire near by.

Out of nowhere a pair of blood red eyes consumed her mind.

Artemis's eyes flew open. She was still with Master Wu, but that did nothing to calm her nerves. She was breathing heavily and her hands cradled her head.

"What did you see?" Wu's question made her look up.

"What was that?"

"That was Spirit Smoke, what you saw was the future." He said this calmly as he could. "None of the others are able to use it."

Artemis gave him a dangerous look and stood up. "I don't care what that was, or what you want old man, but I am _never_ doing that again."

With that said she marched out of the room, past the other who were waiting for her and straight to the training room. Artemis really needed to punch something.

* * *

That night she had a weird dream. Thankfully it wasn't a nightmare.

Once again Artemis was at the beach, but this time just sitting in the sand. After while of watching the waves, she felt a new presence. She looked over to see the woman made of galaxies standing beside her.

The brunettes eyes widened and she stood up, "Selene. What are you doing here?"

The goddess smiled at her, "Like every other time, you called me. Your connection to the gods is stronger than you think. But that is not important right now. Since I am here I wish to tell you a few things.

"You did in fact see the future today, and I am truly sorry. That is not a burden I wished for you to bear. The second is, when I cursed the Overlord to forever stay on the Dark Island, I also told him who would be his downfall. I told him that six elemental masters, the champions of the primordial gods, would destroy him once and for all."

Artemis gave her a confused look. "I thought Lloyd already beat the Overlord. Why are you telling me this now?"

A knowing smile appeared on the goddesses face, "Light cannot purify everything."

Suddenly, Artemis felt something jab into her side, and with that she woke up. She looked around sleepily to see that Lloyd had accidentally elbowed her in his sleep.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Over the next two months, Artemis forgot about the incident. That was, until the day they got a call from Borg Industries.

* * *

 **This chapter took way to long. Writing the draft was a horrible experience because I left out many parts (snowday, halloween, the holidays) because I totally forgot about them. As the title of the chapter suggests, this does take place over the course of a year, so I think it would be around September or at least late August when season three happens.**

 **I hope you enjoyed and a review is always appreciated :D**


	25. Not Again

"It's too bad Lloyd couldn't come. This place is amazing!" Jay had been fanboying since they had arrived at the high tech building. Artemis sighed, she would have felt much more comfortable with Lloyd here. But alas, the duties of the Golden Ninja were highly inconvenient.

Currently, the five of them were on a fancy glass elevator on their way up to Borge's office. Jay and Zane had been freaking out since the moment they arrived, while Cole and Kai managed to disguise their excitement. Artemis, however, was too busy worrying about the pit in her stomach to notice anything.

Wu had also come along, but had been denied access to see Borg with them. But on the bright side, he was offered a free tour by Borg's personal assistant, Pixel.

"So, Artie, any idea what's gonna happen?" Cole asked suddenly, catching everyone off guard.

"Um…" They all stared at her, awaiting an answer. "I got no clue."

Kai raised an eyebrow, "Is this just one of those times where you know something and can't tell us because you think we'll do something stupid?"

She rolled her eyes, "Oh please. After season two of the show ended I completely forgot about it. So I honestly have no clue what's gonna happen."

After she said this the elevator slowly came to a stop and opened. The five were greeted by the CEO of the company himself. The man wasn't that impressive, just your typical middle aged dude. The only remarkable thing about him was the strange device he was sitting on. It looked like Borg was sitting on a spider with, that basically was acting as his wheelchair.

Introductions were given and back stories were told, sadly Artemis's habit of zoning out kicked in and she basically missed everything the half robot man said. Until he mentioned a gift, and Cole asked if it was cake. Much to Cole's disappointment, it was not cake, it was actually a golden statue of Cyrus Borg.

 _How… egotistical of him…_ Artemis thought as she stared dumbfoundedly at the statue. It seemed that most of her friends were on the same page as her, because none of them looked to happy about the gift. Jay, on the other hand, thought this was the best thing since sliced bread and proceeded to fanboy all over it.

They all went over to the statue to check out the very generous gift. She couldn't believe that Borg would give them a gold statue of himself. Everything about this just screamed stupid to her. But, Artemis had to admit, that statue was almost as shiny as Lloyd in his Golden Ninja gi.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Borg whisper something to Kai. Then the CEO started to act extremely paranoid, like something was watching him. Suddenly, he asked them all to leave. They all looked at him like he was crazy, (they just got there for pete's sake!), but complied nonetheless.

The guys picked up the statue, while Artemis stayed near the front to guide them, and they made their way towards the elevator.

"Guys, I think something is up with Borg." Kai whispered to them.

"They're called artificial limbs Kai. I know you don't care about all this cool tech, but there is no need to be rude." Jay responded sharply.

"I meat he was acting suspicious." Kai corrected with an irritated voice, then continued on with his explanation, "He said we had to protect them with our lives."

"God Dammit, not again." Artemis groaned.

"What do you mean?" Cole asked.

She sighed then began to explain as they entered the elevator, "Based on what Kai said, I think we've been given something important disguised as this statue, and now we've entered another perilous adventure that will end terribly if the bad guy gets whatever we have." They all gave her a weird look, and she raised an eyebrow. "Guys its a classic writing trope, so I'm pretty sure you can think of several movies that follow that story line."

Once they had all piled into the elevator the doors slammed shut, and that was apparently enough to spook Kai, who was already on edge. The movement from the red ninja was enough to through the others off balance and drop the statue. Unsurprisingly to Artemis, the statue broke in half to reveal a hollow center.

"Great, now look what you've done!" reprimanded Jay.

"It's hollow…" Zane pointed out.

"Thank you Captain Obvious." Artemis deadpanned, and received an eye roll from her surogat brother.

Cole bent down and pulled out some new gi form the hollow center, and proceed to ask why Borg would give them these. "I hate to admit it, but I think Kai is on to something."

Kai then pulled something else out of the statue. It was really weird looking and Artemis could find no other name for it except "fancy-golden-stick-thingy".

Thats when shit hit the fan.

Alarms started to blare and the amount of flashing red lights would definitely be considered a seizure warning. The guys then started spouting out exposition like the cartoon characters Artemis knew they were. Meanwhile, she just continued to look through the hollowed out statue. She found new gi for everyone including Lloyd, but only four magic gold sticks.

The elevator seemed to decide that it was time to stop working and just let gravity take over, because it started descending rapidly a few seconds later. The force of the fall managed to reverse gravity it the small space, and they were all pressed up against the ceiling. After a few moments of panic, Kai managed to open up the emergency exit. Some sweet spinjitzu went down, and they all managed to get to the ascending parallel elevator.

Once inside, they all changed into their new gi. Sometimes there are more important things than modesty. The new outfits were still color coded and the designs, while simple, still managed to be unique. The gi now came with a bit of armour too, such as sturdy shoulder pads, basic gauntlets (probably so nobody would break another arm), and shoes that actually protected the legs. Her gi was almost completely purple, aside from a bit of silver detailing.

While the guys each grabbed a fancy-gold-stick (apparently they were actually called Techno-Blades), Artemis pulled the knife out of her old shoe and situated it in her new belt.

"Why do you have a knife in your shoe?" Jay asked while fidgeting with his new mask.

She gave him an absurd look, "I had a bad feeling going into this, do you really think I would leave home without one? Also is no one else concerned that Borg knows our shoe sizes?" Her last question was ignored.

After a few tense moments of anticipation, the elevator stopped and the doors slowly opened. Of course the guys had to jump out all heroically, not just calmly step out like a normal person. Luckily a few robots appeared near by for the guys to test out their new weapons on.

It did not go as planned, and they ended up falling out of a window, landing on a window washing station, and relieving a robot of its job. The boys soon began the tedious process of using the ropes to descend, while Artemis texted Lloyd about their predicament.

"Anybody have any clue as to what the shit is going on?" Cole asked.

As the ninjas tried to figure out what was happening, Artemis remembered something. A strange vision paired with that crazy dream.

"Ah, fuck." she mumbled to herself. Sadly, Jay heard her.

"What?" He asked, then noticed the look on her face and knew exactly what it ment. "You always remember stuff at the most inconvenient times! What did you forget to tell us?" his voice was now laced with panic.

"Heh," the newest ninja suddenly quite sheepish, "Remember that… uh… spirit smoke test that Wu gave us? Well… I passed." The next few moments were filled with statements of disbelief. Once they calmed down she continued. "I'm pretty sure that… I saw the Overlord. After that I had a dream where Selene told me that Lloyd didn't beat him. I think he just turned that fart cloud back into a shadow."

They were all quiet for a moment, no one really sure what to say. Luckily the universe took that moment to screw them all over.

* * *

The next few minutes were a whirlwind of action, Artemis could hardly keep up with all of it.

At the moment she and Wu were at an intersection squaring off against a bunch of robots. While a knife was a fine weapon, it was basically useless in this fight. Her elemental powers and reflexes were the only things keeping her alive. Her basic method of attacking was engulfing a robot in a ball of purple darkness, then throwing said purple ball (along with its contents) at a another robot. It was exhausting, but effective.

Meanwhile the guys got to play with their fancy new toys that the Techno-Blades had gotten them.

Suddenly, when all seemed lost, a bright golden light engulfed them all.

After the light faded, Artemis looked up to see her boyfriend descend from the sky on his golden dragon. He was still radiating light like the sun, so it was hard to stare for too long. A second later, Lloyd landed right next to her, the dragon disappeared moments later.

Over the year, Lloyds eyes had changed dramatically. It seemed whenever he used his golden power that a little more crimson would disappear. Right now his eyes were almost solid gold and were filled with confidence.

"So, did I miss anything?"

* * *

 **Happy New Year my lovely readers! I do believe that my resolution is to update on a bit more of a schedule.**

 **So apparently just building the TLNM lego set I got for xmas was enough to get the wheels turning for this story. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season too.**

 **Fun Fact: what Artemis said about forgetting that the show even existed after season two ended is similar to how I viewed the show. I was waiting for more episodes in season three, but I eventually just forgot about it. I actually only remembered that this show even existed last January, and went on a binge to watch every episode I could find. And then I got a bit obsessed and created my own character lol.**

 **Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed and a review is always appreciated :D**


	26. On The Move

"We have to do something!"

"We'll be killed if we go back into the city dude!"

"But what about Master Wu?"

This argument had been going on since they had gotten back to the monastery, and it was starting to give Artemis a headache.

After Lloyd had used his golden power to try and stop all of the robots, the Overlord thought it would be a good time to show up. So the now digitized fart cloud sucked up all of the remaining godly power through the robots and effectively scared the shit out of everyone. Wu had volenterred to be the distaction so that his pupils could get out of the city safely, and of course he had been caught.

As the annoying conversation continued, Artemis finally decided to take matters into her own hands. She got up from her spot and started grabbing phones out of hand, pockets, and off of tables. The protest she earned was ignored, and they all fell silent when she engulfed everyones phone in a purple sphere, and crushed them.

"What did you do that for? I just got a new phone!" Jay shouted.

"No, my Snapchat streak…" Kai said in a small voice.

Her glare shut them all up. As per usual, she was thinking two steps ahead of everyone. "Look, the Overlord is now a computer. Which means he can probably track us through any computer like object. So if we want any chance of beating him, then that means we go off the grid."

Reluctantly, they all nodded.

After a moment of silence, Lloyd spoke up. "So, then what's the plan?"

He glanced toward Artemis, but Jay answered first, "Why don't we turn off the power?"

"All that would do is prevent the robots that run purely on electricity from leaving the city and from charging. What about the mechs that run off of gasoline?" Kai pointed out, "Plus that'll just stop the city from running properly and that's probably not the best idea."

"It'll stall them at least, and we just need to bide time so we can stop the Overlord." Cole added with a thoughtful expression.

Artemis thought for a moment, then spoke, verbally waking the others through her train of thought. "If we do turn off the power, then we could sneak back into the city with a much lower risk. Then into the Borg Industries building, and from there figure out how to _delete_ the Overlord." She made the air quotation marks around delete.

The others looked at each other, most nodding approvingly.

"I do believe that is our best bet," Gramadon stated, "but, I see only one flaw. The Overlord is after Lloyd, so I don't think it would be wise for him to enter the city until the he is defeated."

The guys began to protest about leaving The Green Ninja behind, but fell silent when they heard what Artemis said. "I agree with Garmadon."

This was not a new statement from her, in fact over the last year the group had quickly discovered the similarities between the two. And while having one brooding, angsty, introverted person in a group was normal, having two was a bit of a handful.

"He's our tank Artie, we can't just go in there without him." Cole tried to explain.

"I know, but I still think it would be a good idea for him to stay away from this fight." The image if Lloyd injured flashed through her mind. The thought of him getting hurt made her want to vomit.

"Why not?" the ninja in question asked, betrayal prominent in his eyes.

Seeing the look on his face made her resolve to keep the specifics of the vision to herself, crumble. So she told them everything she could remember. After she finished speaking, the group sat in stunned silence.

Nya was the first to break the silence, "So, you don't want him to go because you think he's gonna get hurt?" Artemis nodded, and Nya nodded back, respecting her friends opinion. "Okay, makes sense to me."

"So if i'm not gonna fight, then what am I gonna do?" Lloyd asked irritably. Being forced to sit on the sidelines obviously upsetting him.

"You go on the run." His mother stated simply. "You keep the target on you, and while their forces are searching for you, the others can sneak into the power station and the city relatively undetected."

He gave an exasperated sigh, "Great, now I get to play the worlds worst game of hide-n'-seek."

Artemis gave him a playful shove, "We're ninjas, we're the best at that game. Plus there is no way in hell I'm leaving you alone."

* * *

Three hours later Garmadon, Lloyd, and Artemis sped off into the sunrise, riding in a small golf cart. While not the majestic steed they had been hoping for, (their minivan was crushed during the fight in the city) it was better than walking. Luckily Nya and Jay had modified the engine so it could go much faster than normal.

The other ninja, and Nya, were headed towards the power station with the help of a passing circus group.

Artemis was driving the cart, her knuckles almost white due to the tight grip she had on the wheel. Garmadon sat next to her, and Lloyd sat in the backwards facing seats behind the two. Next to him were a couple of backpacks filled to the brim with supplies.

The drive was quiet and tense, all of them on edge. The silence was finally broken around noon when clouds started to gather overhead.

"So, Garmadon, any fun stories from the underworld?" Artemis asked, her voice was still tense, but she just wanted to lighten the mood.

Lloyd sighed, obviously embarrassed by his girlfriends' question, while the ex-warlord just let out a breathy laugh. "No, not any good ones. It was mostly really hot down there, I was a shadow, and the souls of the damned were my only companions."

"Hmm, they must have made interesting company." She responded as if this were a normal conversation anybody would have.

"They mostly just complained about how they were judged unfairly."

"I'd hate to interrupt, but I believe a robotic dragon is following us." The Green Ninjas' voice was laced with panic. Artemis glance at the rearview mirror and did in fact see a large robotic dragon flying after them. Needless to say, she floored it.

The force of acceleration jarred them all, and Lloyd nearly fell out of his seat. As decked out aas this little cart was, it was still no match for their pursuer.

After a minute of crazy driving, Artemis finally had enough. "Garmadon, take the wheel." she demanded as she carefully started to slide out of her seat. He nodded and took it.

While hanging off of the edge of the cart, Artemis carefully climbed on top of the cart. The wind pushed her hair into her face and quickly dried up her eyes. The dragon was only a few feet away, bearly close enough to jump to it.

"Artemis, what are you doing?" Lloyd shouted, but his panic fell on deaf ears.

She crouched down, pulled out a knife, and jumped using a purple sphere under her feet to propel herself forward.

For a split second, Artemis thought she wasn't going to make it, that she had overestimated her jump and would fall to her doom. All she could see was the dragon flying towards her and the scenery moving all around. At the last possible moment, she twisted in midair and suck her knife in between two metal plates. The sudden stop jarred her arm and she nearly let go. Then she positioned herself so she had a better grip on the dragon.

Riding the Ultra Dragon was much different than catching a ride on a robotic one. This thing didn't have a designated seating area nor did it have reins. So instead of driving it into the ground, she used her knife as a makeshift crowbar and pried off a metal plate.

Luckily, the piece she pried off was near the head, so there were plenty of circuit boards and wires.

"These look important!" She gave a crazed smile and stared yanking out random boards. By the time four had been removed, the machine started to tilt dangerously to the left. Artemis held on for dear life as the robot crashed into the ground off the side of the dirt road.

For a few moments, she couldn't really tell what was going on, all she could hear was the ringing in her ears, and everything just looked a little too fuzzy to be normal. Soon she felt someone shaking her, trying to get her attention. When the world finally came into focus, she saw Lloyd next to her, concern the only thing on his face. Seeing him forced her to shake all of the fuzz out of her head.

A minute or two later, he was helping her up back to the golf cart. She sat down in the back seat and slowly let the sound turn back on. That's when she noticed Lloyd was yelling.

"-WERE YOU THINKING! YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN HURT, OR WORSE! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?" Instead of concern, his face now only held frustration and anger.

Artemis looked at him like he was stupid, "Because it was following us and we would have never out run that thing when the gas tank was empty."

"YOU COULD HAVE LET ME DEAL WITH IT THEN! THERE WAS NO NEED FOR YOU TO RISK YOUR LIFE FOR MINE! I'M SUPPOSED TO BE THE ONE PROTECTING YOU!"

Something inside of Artemis snapped when he said that. Despite her aching body, she stood up, standing as tall as she could. Before she could stop herself, she spoke, "Just because you think I'm gonna break doesn't mean I will." Her blood was boiling and nothing in the world could make this situation more unbearable.

Just when she was about to storm off, Garmadon entered the conversation, "I'd hate to interrupt a lover's quarrel, but it seems that we have finally run out of gas."

* * *

 **I am really happy with this chapter, and I can't wait to upload the next one! As much as I dislike season three, this is one of my favorite story lines for Artemis.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed, and a review is always** **appreciated :D**


	27. Lovers Quarrel

Luckily, they had been prepared to walk on foot.

The next day and a half was quiet except for the sounds of footsteps and the small conversations Garmadon tried to start to try and make amends between the two. It didn't work.

Artemis was absolutely pissed. On one hand, she was beyond frustrated with Lloyd. How could he think that she couldn't save herself? Was she just a damsel in distress to him? Did he not realize that she had the same drive to protect him that he had for her? On the other hand, she knew that he was only overreacting because he was scared. While that was a very sweet, that was no reason to yell at her and act so childishly.

Honestly, she was just tired of the silence between them. She just wanted to calmly talk things through, but there was hardly time for a private conversation, at least not with Garmadon around.

When they stopped for the night Artemis planned to ask the ex-warlord to give her and his son a few minutes to talk. But as she sat down to unroll her sleeping bag, she noticed that Lloyd was already asking his father the very same thing she planned to ask. His father nodded and walked a ways in to the forest, just far enough to be out of earshot. Lloyd then sat down next to her.

"Um… I'm sorry that I overreacted yesterday." While he did sound apologetic,it did nothing to alleviate the sting that his words had left. When she did not respond, he continued, "Look, I was just really scared that I would lose you, and that just can't happen." There was a sudden hint of desperation in his voice now, "I know that you can protect yourself, but that doesn't mean I'm not terrified at the prospect of you going into a real fight. I love you too much to lose you."

She sighed, "Lloyd, that protective instinct is a two way street. You need to understand that. And the fact that you getting hurt by those assholes is even a possibility, makes me sick. So I plan to do everything in my power to make sure that it never happens." Artemis hoped that her voice was steady, because her mind was just a mess. Lloyd tried to comfort her by wrapping an arm around her, but it was just to much. She stood up and said, "Sorry, I just need some time to think."

With that, she walked into the forest, letting the growing shadows consume her as she went.

* * *

What did he do? He apologized didn't he? Doesn't that usually make things better? Lloyd rested his head in his hands in defeat. Was he going to lose the love of his life just because he was trying to make sure she was safe?

 _Why are girls so complicated?_

A moment later, he felt his dad sit down next to him.

"Dad, what do I do wrong?" he asked, pain apparent in his voice.

"Lloyd, as much as I love your mother, I never spent much time with her. So I am not the person to ask about the affairs of the heart." His son groaned in distress. "But, I can tell you that women have no cheat code, and listening to her is the best option you have."

He _had_ listened to her, that was good. But she never really said if she accepted his apology. She had just given her reasons for what she did, then said she just needed time. So that's what he would give her, hell he would stop time if that's what she wanted.

Suddenly, a scream filled the air.

 _Artemis._

Lloyd was on his feet in half a second and was racing towards the direction it had come from, praying to the gods that she was okay.

* * *

While the talk with Lloyd had been extremely helpful, it had also completely overwhelmed her. How could she possibly explain the emotions running through her head when she could barely process them herself! Honestly, _calculus_ is simpler than human emotions.

As she walked deeper into the forest, and further away from the campsite, Artemis began to meticulously sort through the thoughts in her head.

Was she mad at Lloyd for being over protective? No, she wasn't, she was just frustrated at their lack of communication. During the last year the two had never gotten into many fights, just small scuffles that ended fairly quickly. Now they faced a whole new problem with actual life of death situations and neither of them was willing to let the other go.

He just admitted to loving her too much to ever let her go! He loved her! How was she supposed to explain her equivalent to that?

It wasn't like this was the first time he said it, but when he did guilt filled her stomach. She had never said it back, and how was she supposed to if she wasn't sure if she felt the same way?

Yes, Lloyd was her best friend, and someone she could picture herself growing old with.

 _But what if he changes his mind?_

Her parents relationships ran through her head. They had left each other because her mother was having an affair, and her father was just unhappy with their marriage. Her mother then entered a toxic relationship, and her father became withdrawn from the world.

Would that happen to them?

Artemis, not paying too much attention to her surroundings, suddenly entered a clearing with a strange looking plane in it. She looked around to see several Nindroids, actually surprised to see her. Just on the edge of the ramp leading up into the ship, stood a serpentine that she never wanted to see again.

A smile slowly spread across the snakes face, "Hello old chum."

Pythor looked very different than he had a year ago. Then he had been mostly purple, now he was an almost white shade of lavender. His eyes were still an ugly red, his markings were mostly the same, and his presence only made her feel sick.

After freezing for a second, Artemis pulled out a knife from her boot. This one had been a gift from Kai. The blade was two sided and near the hilt on one side the blade was serrated.

"How are you still alive?" She growled, trying to make herself more intimidating.

He just laughed. "The Devourers stomach acid isn't as powerful as one might think.  
The snake made a small motion with his hand and the robots began to slowly surround the small ninja.

She narrowed her eyes, trying to turn them into steel. "How did you find us?"

Pythor laughed again, like there was a joke that she didn't understand. "Oh, please. The Overlord's power knows no bounds. As soon as we realized you two weren't with the others, the Overlord began following your energy."

Her face paled, and any confidence she had, any scrap of a plan, disappeared in a second. That wasn't possible, was it?

"Your lying!"

"Why would I lie? I have no reason to."

Just before the nindroids surrounded her completely, Artemis blindly rushed forward, screaming in anger.

The fight was over before it even started. Because of her blind charge, and lack of strategy, Pythor was able to disarm her easily. He twisted her arm painfully behing her back, and a second later wrapped his body around hers.

Suddenly Lloyd and Garmadon burst through the undergrowth. Whatever they were expecting, it definitely wasn't this.

In a flash the knife was pressed against her throat, the serrated side digging into her skin. Despite this she still yelled out her warning. "LLOYD GET OUT OF HERE! THEY'RE FOLLOWING ME!" As she screamed, the knife began to cut into her neck.

Lloyd gave her a desperate look, believing her, but Artemis knew that him leaving her was a long shot. His eyes then hardened as he glared at her captor. "Pythor! Let her go!"

The snake chuckled once more, "Now why would I do that? I don't have what I want yet."

She watched as Lloyd struggled internally, searching for the right answer. She wanted to tell him that she wasn't worth it, that nothing was worth his life, but the knife was already digging into her flesh.

"What do you want?" He asked, voice quivering slightly.

"The Golden Ninja." As Pythor spoke those words, tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.

"Deal."

"NO!"

When she screamed he knife cut deeper into her skin, but Artemis didn't care, her worst nightmare was coming true.

Lloyd began to walk towards them, and was promptly grabbed by nindroids. They then proceeded to drag him on the the plane, Pythor unraveling himself as they passed and followed. Just before she go after Lloyd, Garmadon rushed forward and prevented her from doing something stupid. A second later the ramp closed and the engine started.

"NO!"

Instead of falling down helplessly, a burning rage entered Artemis's eye, and she began to chase after the plane as it ascended. Nothing, not even gravity, would keep her from Lloyd.

* * *

 **guYS, I am sooooo happy with how this chapter turned out. I can't wait to get up the next few because I was wrong about season three, my version of it is awesome. lol. I can't wait to hear what you guys think about this chapter!**

 **I hope you enjoyed and a review is always** **appreciated :D**


	28. WWAD?

Artemis knew that she would never be able to keep up with the aircraft by running. She was already beginning to lose sight of it.

So, summoning all of the strength she could, Artemis launched herself in the air with a pillar of earth. With the sudden jump her stomach lurched, and it did so once more when gravity started to take effect. As soon as the ground was close enough, she summoned another pillar to launch herself up and forward again. She also used a ball of purple to cushion her landing and prevent her from breaking a leg.

Artemis did this over and over again, until she was close enough to attack the plane. Her initial plan was to electrocute it, but by now she was exhausted, and could only summon her own power. When she was mid-air, she created three spheres of darkness and threw them at the engine she was closest to. That caused the engine to blow up, and start to descend rapidly.

* * *

Lloyd could have sworn that he was just in this super weird cell with Pythor standing menacingly nearby. Now he was standing in the old training room on the Destiny's Bounty. Everything was in the same place as it was before the Devourer even happened, even his small sleeping bag in one of the corners.

Then he noticed the man leaning against one of the training dummies. He was the same height as Lloyd, and also had golden eyes. His skin was a deep tan and his clothing, along with his hair, reflected the current weather.

"We need to talk kid." The man's voice was warm and smooth.

Lloyd just gave him a strange look, "Who are you?"

He rolled his eyes, "I am Helios, your patron." Lloyds jaw dropped. "Stop gawking, I didn't come here just so you could stare at me."

The ninja shook the stupefied look off of his face. "Right, sorry."

Helios's face then changed from slightly annoyed to kind of desperate. "Look kid, you just let the Overlord steel most of our power. Now he's strong enough to become corporal on his own." Then the god jabbed an angry finger towards Lloyds chest. "Your lucky my power source is somewhere safe where that assbutt can't reach it."

"What would have happened if it wasn't?" the human asked.

A solemn expression passed over Helios's face. "No more green ninja, no more me, and no more sun."

The realization of what could have happened hit Lloyd like a brick to the face. He immediately started to apologize but was cut off.

"It's fine kid, you didn't know, and you were just trying to protect your girl. I would have done the same. Besides that's not the only thing I wanted to tell you." The god put his hands on Lloyds shoulders and stared him right in the eyes. "Artemis is in danger, you can't let her get anywhere near the Overlord. With the power that he has now, she is far more susceptible to anything that he throws at her."

"Why?" His voice cracked when he asked.

"Because they share the same power source. The Overlord stole Selene's and has been feeding off of it for a thousand years. She stands no chance against him."

Suddenly the room start to shake and dissolve around him.

Helios gestured to the door. "You should probably get going kid, don't want to keep her waiting, do you?"

* * *

When she saw the crash site, Artemis's blood froze. The ship was mostly intact, but the left half was almost completely crushed. As she ran towards the wreckage she prayed to any god that would listen, that Lloyd would be okay.

She searched for nearly half an hour before she found him. He was in a mostly empty room where the only real danger was some broken glass.

She rushed over to him and cradled his head in her lap. Lloyd was completely unconscious, but thankfully he seemed to come out mostly unscathed, aside from the small cut on his forehead. She quickly checked his pulse, and relief flooded through her when she felt the steady beat of his heart. Then she inspected his body further for any injuries she could not see, happy to find none. Finally Artemis decided this was not the place to get complacent and started moving his body.

After ten long minutes of basically dragging Lloyd's dead weight, she finally deemed them a safe distance away. At this point her face was drenched with tears of exaction, heartbreak, anger, and sadness.

"Lloyd you better fucking wake up! You can't just leave me like this!" Suddenly all of the emotions she had been sorting through only moments before rushed forward, only causing her to sob harder. Artemis feared that she would never be able to talk to her best friend again, that she would lose her other half, the love of her life!

In that moment, when that thought passed through her, she froze. A smile passed over her face, but it was soon run over with tears and replaced with a grimace of fear. Then she closed her eyes and whispered the truth, hoping that Lloyd would hear. "You can't leave me you dumbass, I love you."

Suddenly a hand was cupping her face, She opened her silver eyes to Lloyd's gold ones looking back at her, tired but happy. "I love you too."

* * *

Garmadon found the two passed out next to each other, stupidly close to wreckage. He let the two rest, knowing that they were probably exhausted. About an hour later he got the signal from Zane's falcon that it was safe to return to the monastery. Then he had a problem with waking the two up.

While Artemis was more or less okay to walk, there was no way that his son could walk on his own. So the ex-warlord and Artemis took turns helping Lloyd along.

It took them two days to get back to the monastery. Two incredibly long, and exhausting days.

By the time the three were about a quarter of a mile away from their destination, Lloyd finally collapsed. Artemis, who was helping him walk, went down too, unable to support his body weight.

Garmadon, obviously unable to carry both of them, went on ahead and brought back a few of the guys to help. Zane and Kai dragged Lloyd back, while Cole carefully carried Artemis.

Both of them slept for two days.

* * *

Lloyd's body ached all over. His head was pounding, his muscles were on fire, and he really needed to pee. But he couldn't move, there was something on top of his aching chest restricting his movement. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes to see that he was back in his and Artemis's shared room. Not only was he in bed, but his girlfriend was curled up next to him using his chest as a pillow.

Normally, Artemis only did this when she'd have a particularly bad dream, preferring to stay over on her side and steal all of the covers. Whenever this happened, he would relish in the contact and only snuggle closer to her, but right now he really had to pee.

After gently repositioning her, he got up and went to do his business. Just walking to the bathroom wore him out, and once that was over all he wanted to do was nap for five more years.

Just before he made his way back to bed, he heard voices coming from the game room. It sounded like the guys were having a fun time, like there wasn't a care in the world.

 _Probably a good time to let them know that I'm awake._

He walked towards the room, his body protesting every move. When he opened the door all heads turned towards him and there was an explosion of noise.

"LLOYD!"

There was a blur of movement and a moment later he was sitting on the couch next to Jay. Then they all began to excitedly tell him what had happened when he was gone, each telling a different and more exaggerated version of the same story.

"Guys, I can't understand anything you're saying."

"DUDE, we got to go into a computer!" Jay exclaimed excitedly. Lloyd gave him a disbelieving look, so then they started to tell him about their strange adventure through computer code. During that time Nya and Wu had joined them too.

"In the end we managed to delete the Overlord from the system!" Kai explained, but was unimpressed with the confused look on Lloyd's face, and went on. "We won dude!"

Lloyd ran a hand through his hair. Something about their story didn't sit right with him. After a few minutes of thinking and listening to the others chat happily, he finally remembered the dream.

He suddenly jumped up from the couch, nearly face planted, then began to pace vigorously. "He's not gone, and we haven't won yet. We just gave him exactly what he wants." HIs voice was slightly crazed.

"What are you talking about?" Cole asked confusion in his voice.

"When Pythor had me on that ship, I must've passed out because I had one hell of a dream and Helios was in it." His friends began to look much more concerned. Artemis was the only one of them who had ever made contact with the gods. "He said that the Overlord had drained me of all the godly power that I had, and is going to use it to get his real body back."

The others stayed silent, not sure what to say, while Lloyd just continued to pace.

What were they going to do? What was going to happen to them?

His mind was all over the place, trying to form a plan that would never full piece together. This is why Artemis always took the lead, she was the smartest out of all of them and always thought three steps ahead. But now she was passed out and he couldn't do anything without her!

Lloyd's hands began to shake, from exhaustion or stress, he didn't know. Knots began to form in his stomach and an overwhelming sense of doom formed in his head.

They couldn't do anything! Their best strategist was out for the count, and the world's biggest evil was back!

 _What would Artemis do?_

That question slipped into his mind, and he began to think of a million things that she would do in this situation. Artemis would do the smart thing, try and limit any variables and try to solve the problem to the best of her ability. She would do the thing that she felt was right no matter what the others thought. She would do anything just to save someone.

That' it!

"My power is the reason you guys are in danger, the reason why the overlord is back now. We have to get rid of it. Now" There was a desperation in his voice and he knew it, but didn't care.

"I agree nephew, but now is not the time." Wu received an annoyed look from Lloyd.

"Why not? We have to do this now!"

"Lloyd, you can barely stand, it would be best if you were well rested before we even attempted anything." Zane explained calmly.

He gave them a confused stare, sure he was exhausted, but Lloyd felt fine other that the splitting headache and aching muscles. After a second of staring at the others, he suddenly began to realize what they were talking about. His legs were barely able to hold him up.

"Dude, you just had your powers drained completely. And normally, after just using that stuff once it knocks you out for at least a day and you end up eating half of the fridge. So frankly, I'm surprised your even standing right now." Jay said as he came over to help Lloyd sit down again.

His eyelids suddenly began to feel heavy again, the adrenaline leaving his body, and another nap didn't sound so bad any more.

* * *

The next week was an tense one.

While Artemis recovered fairly quickly, Lloyd was still down. The others began to keep track of the goings on in the city, and their had, in fact, been an influx of nindroids around the outskirts.

During that time Artemis remembered what Pythor had told her, that the Overlord was able to track her. With that in mind she began to withdraw from her friends, afraid of what else the villain could do.

At the end of that week Lloyd finally had enough of everyone babying him and decided that he was well enough to give the guys their powers back. The "ritual" was the same as last time only in reverse, and was performed in the Temple of Darkness.

The only real difference between the two ancient temples was the center symbol. While in the other one it was the sun eclipsing the moon, in this one it was the moon eclipsing the sun.

Artemis smiled sadly as she watched the guys happily played with their powers, and quietly left. She headed for the kitchen, grabbing a few protein bars for the road and stuffed them in to her backpack.

Suddenly, Lloyd was next to her.

"What are you doing?"

When she heard the confusion in his voice guilt flooded through her. This is exactly why she wanted to leave unnoticed.

"I have to go Lloyd, I'm putting everyone in danger just by being here." After a brief moment of hesitation she grabbed the nearby frying pan. "I'm sorry Lloyd." the second after she said that, Artemis hit him upside the head with the pan. He slumped down onto the floor, instantly unconscious.

Five minutes later she was in the garage.

Half a year ago, Jay had asked her if she wanted a mech, seeing as how he and Nya were fixing a few of them. Instead she had asked for a motorcycle. He complied happily, and said that it would be an early birthday gift along with lessons on how to ride it.

When she reached her bike, she was pleased to see that it was undisturbed. It was rather simple compared to the other vehicles that the others had. Artemis prefered it like this, that way if she needed to jump off she wouldn't feel bad about ruining such a fancy bike.

With her backpack strapped tightly to her back, Artemis mounted her steed and drove off into the noon day sun, nothing keeping her from her goal.

* * *

The ninja walked into the kitchen, ready to have a big lunch. They had forgotten how much energy that their powers used. But they froze when they saw Lloyd passed out on the floor.

While the others rushed over to check on him, Cole noticed a piece of paper on the counter. He picked it up and read what was on it.

"Cole, what are you doing? We have a bigger problem than a tiny piece of paper!" Kai yelled.

The Earth ninja just rolled his eyes and read the note aloud. " _Dear everyone, Sorry for leaving like this, but I promise that it's in everyone's interest that I do. The Overlord can follow me, so I don't want any of you to get hurt. Artemis. P.s. Sorry I hit Lloyd with a frying pan._ "

* * *

Artemis arrived at Ninjago city an hour later.

Entering the city was a breeze, the nindroids just let her in, like they were expecting her.

She knew that separating from the others was a stupid idea, one that would probably get her killed. But she wasn't willing to let the Overlord spy on them either. She knew that this was a classic hero trope, but at the moment she really didn't care.

Artemis wasted no time and headed straight for the Borg Industries building. Nobody inside seemed to care (everyone was replaced with a robot), and only acknowledged her when the pointed her towards the elevator, and she rode it to the top.

Of course that bag of dicks would use Borg's office as his own.

Nothing had changed in the room, the only difference was the person sitting in the spider-like wheelchair. He honestly looked like a three dimensional shadow. Pythor standing close by.

The Overlord gave a sarcastic smile, "So, what brings you to my humble abode?"

Silver eyes turned to steel in an instant. "You know why you piece of shit." The shadow man just gestured cluelessly. "How have you been tracking me?"

He chuckled maliciously. "You simple little girl. I am honestly surprised that you haven't figured it out yet." He stopped for a moment, as if he were relishing in this small victory, but continued moments later. "Selene might be source of your power, but I stole her's. You follow a dying god."

The Overlord took this moment to laugh, the sound like chainsaws against her eardrums. Suddenly he stopped laughing and the room became ice cold.

"I am practically a god myself, and you should show me some respect."

A second later a shadow consumed her, and all she saw were blood red eyes.

* * *

 **Oh, how I love this chapter. I wrote it super quick (debatable) but didn't type it up** **immediately** **because I got distracted again...**  
 **Just an FYI for those who might be wondering, I will not be using the space portion of season three, because it is unneeded in my story seeing as how the golden weapons no longer** **exist in this story. So the Overlord has gotten all the power that he needs from Lloyd.**

 **Also, I haven't watched the new episodes yet, I will, I'm just gonna watch them whenever I'm home alone and my family isn't around to make fun of me.**

 **I hope you enjoyed and a review is always** **appreciated :D**


	29. Internal Screaming

Lloyd was worried sick. It had been almost two weeks since Artemis had disappeared and there was still no word from her. He knew that she was okay, _she had to be_ , but that didn't stop him from worrying.

He could hardly sleep at night, dreams plagued by nightmares, and could hardly function during the day. Most of his time was spent pacing, imagining the worst possible scenarios, and trying (in vain) to calm himself down. Jay had once walked in on one of his panicky moments and told everyone about it. They made a huge deal about these panic moments, Lloyd didn't understand why though, he was notorious at overthinking things. But apparently spending your days pacing and panicking were not considered normal.

Combined with his already exhausted body, it took two whole weeks for him to get back to full strength. Two anxiety ridden, panic inducing weeks. Thankfully, when the others were last in the city, they managed to rescue Cyrus Borg, and he was instrumental in the planning process, so they weren't going in blind.

The had gotten into the city with ease, not needing to take out any nindroids because there were none to fight. It was almost too easy. After getting further into the city, the group split up into three parties. Nya was to go and distract the leader of the nindroids; Garmadon, Wu, and Borg were going to one of the many temples located throughout the city, one dedicated to Odin, the god of knowledge. The ninja were sent to scout out the city, and figure out where the best place to attack would be, then they would rendezvous with the older men.

At the moment the ninja were all on a rooftop close to the Borg Industries building, trying to decipher the security pattern. So far they were shit outta luck.

"Damn, there are too many down there. We might have to draw him out." Lloyd whispered to his friends.

"Why don't you just wait?" a voice whispered back.

"Because we don't have that much time to waste." he shot back.

"He will literally be outside in an hour." the voice deadpanned.

Lloyd turned to the voice, about to ask them how they knew this, when he froze. Just a couple of inches away, kneeling beside him, was Artemis. There were bags under her eyes, her short hair was a bit messier than usual, and their were a few new stains on her purple gi. She was gorgeous.

His heart soared at the sight of her and brought her into a bone crushing hug. "Artemis! What are you doing here? How did you find us?"

As a million questions flew out of his mouth, a smile graced her face. "Lloyd, I've been hiding out in the city for two weeks, do you really think I wouldn't know what's going on in every inch of this place?" She said in between small giggles. After releasing her from the hug, Lloyd kept a strong grip on her hand, like she was a lifeline.

"How did you find us?" Jay asked once again after giving her his own hug. As her surrogate brother, he had been just as worried about Artemis as Lloyd had.

"You guys are dressed in bright colors, not that hard to spot. Now I'm assuming you have some super awesome plan to beat the Overlord, or you guys wouldn't be here." They all nodded in conformation. "Cool, I'll take you to my secret layer and we can talk more about it there."

"We have to meet up with Wu and Garmadon first, but I'm sure we can go there later." Kai said, trying to explain their situation.

She nodded understandingly, and they all left for the Temple of Odin. They chatted happily, no fear, because there were no robots to attack them.

That didn't last long.

About a block away from their destination, the nindroids pounced, swarming all over the place. There were far too many to fight and actually come out alive, so they all did the smart thing and ran.

Lloyd's had was still latched onto Artemis's, fearing that if he let go he would lose her again. But to his dismay, he felt her tug her hand out of his grasp. He immediately spun around, ready to grab her again, when he did, he saw the massive wave of robots headed towards them.

Artemis stared him straight in the eyes, "Go on ahead, I'll buy you some time." The look on her face was one of determination and one that you did not want to fight with, so Lloyd took this oder and ran into the temple as fast as he could.

As soon as he heard the doors slam shut, he turned around, expecting her to be right there with him, but she wasn't. Lloyd's head whipped around the room, still trying to find her. But Artemis was nowhere to be seen.

What happened? Where was she? Did the robots get her? Was this another one of her stupid heroic sacrifices?

 _No. Nononononono._

As the thoughts flew through his head, Lloyd moved towards the sliding paper window and opened it, bearly a crack, just to see if he could find out what happened. He fully believed that he would see Artemis's unconscious (or dead) body lying prone on the ground, but what he saw was much worse.

There she was, stand straight up, staring menacingly at the temple that she could not enter because of the many wards Wu and his father had placed on it. She was talking to a nindroid, like she was giving it orders.

As if she could feel him staring, Artemis turned her gaze right to him. Instead of the shining silver that he loved, they were dull, lifeless iron. There was no trace of the woman that loved him in those eyes, she was gone.

Lloyd slowly closed the window and stepped back, to shocked to even register what was going on around him. He heard the others ask about Artemis, but he just pointed to the window and let them figure it out for themselves.

 _She's gone. She betrayed us. Does she really hate me that much?_

He recalled the last few days that he saw her. Artemis had been distant, skittish, and snappy. She had slept in a different room, and almost refused to look at him.

This was all his fault. He had disregarded her feelings when Pythor held a knife to her throat, and left her to pick up the pieces of their relationship. _Why was he so stupid?_

During his internal crisis, the others were having the plan explained to them. Lloyd only half heard it. Something about a weird pill that would make the Overlord super small, he didn't really care at the moment.

Soon he was ushered along, and followed blindly, letting muscle memory do all of the work for him. Sooner than he hoped, the plan failed, and now they were all fighting to survive. Fighting to live another day, so that they could come back and try again. But Lloyd was done. He no longer wished to fight, no longer wanted to play this cruel game called life. If Artemis was gone then there was no hope left.

The robots and their mechs had surrounded the ninja, the sheer number of them was staggering. The Overlord must have used Borg to build more.

Suddenly, just as Lloyd took down one nindroid, it's place was taken by Artemis herself. Her mask was up, covering the bottom half of her face, and her knives were aimed at him. Lloyd managed to dodge all of her swings, but had no will to actually make an attack against her.

But dodging all of her wild swings was tiring, and he was soon forced to disarm her of one of the knives. Because of her small stature, he was able to knock it out of her grasp in a few swift moves. In the split second that he held her arm, Lloyd noticed something. Her eyes held none of the fire that they usually did, they were completely empty, and getting darker by the second.

In that moment he remembered what Helios had said to him in his dream. Artemis was far more susceptible to the Overlords power. She hadn't betrayed them, she was being possessed by that asshole. He should have known better that to think that she would change sides.

Before he could have anymore time to think, the possessed Artemis yanked her hand out of Lloyds grasp and began to swing at him with the other knife. With his second wind, the green ninja continued to play defense and parry all of her attacks.

"Artemis, this isn't you!" he shouted at her, hopping to bring her back. She just snarled and continued to try and kill him. There was another swipe of the balde, this one dangerously close to his jugular. "Artemis, you have to stop!"

Without a second thought, Lloyd disarmed her of the second knife and grabbed hold of her arms, and shook her lightly. "Snap out of it! Come back to me!"

For a brief second his words seemed to register with in her mind. A flash of recognition came over her face, and Lloyd's heart soared. Then he felt a sudden, searing pain in his side and he watched as an evil smirk distorted her features.

He let go of her shoulders and stepped back, the knife sliding out of him as he did so. Artemis began to swipe her knife at him all over again, but this time Lloyd had a major disadvantage with dodging and was hit many more times with the small weapon.

This game didn't last long. The blood loss was beginning to affect his judgement, and was unable to properly take in his surroundings. Soon, Artemis used her trademarked trick of tripping and pinning him. His body hit the pavement and Artemis was over him, pressing a knife against his throat.

* * *

Artemis had never been afraid of the dark, even as a small child it had always been a comfort to her. But this inky blackness that she had been trapped in for who-knows-how-long was beginning to scare her. When she had first arrived at this place, the darkness had been a comforting security blanket. But as time went on, it began to change into a confining straight jacket, keeping her from doing anything it didn't want her to.

She had wandered aimlessly for what felt like forever, trying to find a way to escape this prison. All the while her resolve to keep moving was getting weaker and weaker.

Finally, Artemis fell to the ground, body and mind finding little reason to keep going. When she did, the black sludge began to slowly cover her, as if it were wrapping her up in vines. Any hope she had of escaping faded, as did her will to live. There was no point of anything, not when despair was physically restraining her. Her soul was trapped, how could she even phathm a happy ending at this point.

"Artemis!"

The sound of her name was faint, as if it were being shouted a hundred yards away, but she heard it nonetheless. Artemis lifted her head looking for the sound, thin trendles of darkness breaking as she did so. That voice was familiar, where had she heard it before?

 _Lloyd._

When his name popped into her head, she immediately stood up, the shadowy vines still trying to cling to her. Without hesitating she began to walk in the direction she heard the voice come from. Hope began flooding into her once more.

After another eternity of walking blindly, she finally found something. It was a large circular window, about five feet in diameter. The other side showed a birds eye view of Ninjago city. When she looked closer at the picture, Artemis spotted many figures fighting on the streets below, her friends in that fight too.

A sudden rage filled her. Why was she stuck in this hell hole when all of her friend were fighting the bad guys? She should be fighting too!

Artemis reached out to touch the window, hoping that it would let her out, but was un-surprised when her hand came into contact with solid glass.

A flash of purple and green caught her eye, and suddenly the perspective changed. Now she was watch Lloyd defend himself against a woman. A woman who was wearing purple, who had the same knives as she did, and who had the exact same scar on her elbow.

 _That was her._ She was fighting Lloyd! Why would she do that? Artemis would never purposely hurt the precious cinnamon roll that was her boyfriend!

Her open palm turned into a fist and began to pound on the barrier.

"Artemis!" she could hear Lloyd's voice through the glass, and was positive that he was saying other things, but they were uninterpretable.

The second that her fist struck the glass, a tentacle of darkness warped into existence and pulled her hand back. Artemis tried using her other hand, but that was restrained too. She began to struggle, trying to get out of its grasp, but was unable to. The darkness just spawned more tentacles and pulled her away from the window.

Just before she was completely consumed by the sickly shadows, Artemis had the displeasure of watching her clone stab Lloyd.

Artemis exploded. She let out a roar of pure rage and charged forward. In her furry, the restraints shrunk back in fear, momentarily letting her go. But they quickly recover and grabbed her once more when she was only a few feet away from the glass. This time they were stronger, and she could hardly move.

This wasn't right. This darkness should be helping her. Selene had gifted her with these powers, so it was time for it to get it's shit together.

Artemis twisted her hand and grabbed at one of the tentacles. The second she made contact with it, it let go and changed from sickly purple to a calming night sky. It was almost as if her touch had purified it. She continued to twist and grab at the infected darkness, all the while the night sky began to consume the sickly shadows.

She was free.

Before she smashed her way through the glass, she grabbed onto a piece of the sky, and in turn it latched onto her, almost as if it were unwilling to let her leave without it. She then used that same hand to punch the glass with all of her might. It only took three hits for the barrier to crack, and one more to shatter it all. Artemis was suddenly back in her body, on top of Lloyd, threatening to slit his throat.

She instantly moved off of him and dropped the knife. She stared at him disbelievingly, wondering if she was actually here.

"Lloyd?" she whispered, almost surprised to hear her own voice. The Green Ninja was currently clutching his side, most likely to staunch the bleeding, a confused look on his face.

Artemis's knees hit the pavement, her hands shaking uncontrollably. There was blood on them. _His blood_. Suddenly she knew why he detested the color. She tore her eyes away from her stained gloves and glanced at her injured friend. "Lloyd are you okay?"

He smiled through gritted teeth, "Yeah, I'm doing alot better now that you're back."

She started to apologize about what she had done, but stopped when she remembered the predicament they were in, and hurriedly took stock of where they were. Currently, most of the fighting was happening in the middle of the street, the two of them closer to the sidewalk and a dented car. The robots paid them no mind, more preoccupied with the other ninja. Bearly a block away, Artemis spotted the Overlord, laughing maniacally in his spider-like chair.

Her head whipped back to the ninja next to her, who was slowly sitting up, "Lloyd, we need to stop the Overlord now."

"How're we gonna do that? Plan A and B failed, and there was no plan C!"Lloyd said, his duel-chrome eyes filled with panic.

She gave him a smile, "Together of course." Artemis stood up once more, and helped Lloyd do so too. "Go get Kai and Cole, I'll get the other two."

He nodded and moved towards his friends.

Luckily for her, Zane and Jay weren't to far from away, but they were surrounded by several murder-bots. Artemis raced to them, and quickly called upon her powers. While normally it would have taken a few seconds for her to find it, it reached out to her instead.

When she was barely two yards away from the fight, Artemis commanded one of the robots shadows' to impale it's owner, by changing into a spear. The reaction was instantaneous, and worked for each shadow connected to an evil nindroid. The spears were several feet tall and completely solid, not the half gaseous form that they were before.

The two ninja who had been fighting looked over in her direction and smiled widely. She mad a motion for them to follow her, and changed course towards the Overlord. A second later the other three were following her as well.

She stopped several yards away. The enemy had stopped laughing and was now glaring dangerously at them.

"Don't interfere until I give the signal." Artemis whispered to the others. Before they could protest or figure out what the hell was happening, she stepped forward to confront this monster.

With confidence Artemis began to speak.

"Guess your plan to drain me didn't work, you big sack of dicks." She could feel the others gape at her boldness, and watched as the Overlord fumed in his seat.

"You inferior little girl, I , am more powerful than you will ever be!" he hissed with his chainsaw like voice.

Artemis let out a bark of laughter, "If your all powerful then why did you need me or Lloyd, when you could have just use your own godly power to get your body back?" Before the Overlord could speak, she answered the question herself. "Oh, because you stole that power, and aren't actually a god. No, your just a sad little man who is overcompensating for something."

She began to slowly walk forward, her newfound power radiating off of her in waves, and her expression one of annoyance. "Now, why don't you do us all a favor and give up here and now. Doesn't mean that you won't cease to exist, it'll just be a lot easier if you don't put up a fight."

The Overlord sneered, "Never."

She shrugged, "Oh well, it's your funeral buddy."

With that, Artemis raced forward, full speed ahead, used one of the spider legs as a springboard, and roundhouse kicked the Overlord in the face. That alone sent him flying out of the strange chair, landing several feet away. She jumped down gracefully, and began to circle him.

The shadow man struggled to his feet, anger pulsating off of him. On his face, where her foot had connected, was a lighter shade of purple, almost like a bruise and it seemed to be spreading.

In a moment of blind anger the Overlord rushed forward, preparing to grab her by the throat. But she was faster (and shorter than him), deftly dodged the attack, and landed a solid punch to his stomach. Another wave of purple spreading over his body. Then swept her feet underneath his, causing the Overlord to fall flat on his face.

While he was down for that half second, Artemis placed her hand on his back. Once more purple began to consume him. Then took a few steps back.

The overlord stood once more, refusing to give up, and made to attack her again. But when he went to move, he found that he could not. Artemis, now connected to her patron god, was stronger than ever before. This young woman had managed to stop the Overlord from moving an inch.

"NOW!"

The guys acted instantaneously.

Rock protruded from the ground almost swallowing the enemy, ice formed over the earth further preventing movement. Then streams of fire, lightning, and pure green energy struck the Overlords' exposed upper body. The six ninja had surrounded the shadow man in a complete circle. All of their power going into destroying this monster.

After a moment that lasted an eternity, there was an explosion of energy and they were all blasted backwards.

Artemis crashed into the pavement, her body screaming in pain from where tiny pieces of rock and ice had penetrated her skin. Her eyes were bearly open, but her vision was already darkened and distorted. She sat up as soon as she could, determined to see if they had succeeded, to see if her friend were okay.

Ten feet away from her was a crater. Almost as if somebody else was controlling her body, Artemis staggered over to it and slid down the side. It was only about a foot deep, and just less than fifteen feet in diameter. In the center of it was something pitch black and pulsating, almost like a heartbeat.

When she got closer to it, Artemis saw that it was a tiny black sphere, about the size of a clay bead. It was so black that that it almost looked like the ground where it lay was photoshopped out of existence.

Seconds later her exhausted body dropped to the ground, unable to stand any longer. But, before she let sleep take hold of her, Artemis reached out and grabbed the little black sphere.

It humed happily in her hand.

* * *

 **Sorry for the wait! Once again I got really distracted with other stuff! *cough*college*cough*  
I hope you liked this chapter as much as I do because it was a hell of a chapter to write! Don't worry the story doesn't end here, we still have to get through several more seasons before that happens lol. Season four is my favorite, lot of drama :)  
Also, I'll give a cookie to anybody who can figure out whats wrong with Lloyd at the beginning of the chapter because that totally comes into play throughout the rest of the story!**

 **Happy Valentines Day! I hope you enjoyed and a review is always appreciated :D**


	30. Job Offers

The night sky surrounded her once more. Comets flew by, and asteroids floated aimlessly. Artemis stood in this space, in awe of her surroundings, but somehow aware that she wasn't actually in _space_.

Exactly where she stood there was a large shining orb of pure silver. All around her stars shone brightly, and several of them connected to make constellations. There were only five of them, each creating a different animal representing a god and an element. Artemis instinctively knew that theses represented the connection she had with her ninja friends.

She reached out to one of the constellations, a snake, and felt an intense pain radiate from it. Artemis checked the next, a dragon, and only felt an underlying presence of pain. In Fact, she could feel pain coming from all of the constellations except from the bear.

Suddenly, Artemis felt a presence and turned around. Behind her stood six intimidating figures. Selene blended in seamlessly with her surroundings, while her opposite, Helios, exuded light. Xiuhtecuhtli and Jupiter were no better, their light also making the stars around them fade. Skaidi and Atlas just stood calmly in the shadows beside Selene. The six primordial gods stood before her, waiting for her to do something.

Artemis held out her hand to her patron, opening it to reveal the little black bead in her palm. "I think this belongs to you."

The moon goddess smiled. When the bead made contact with her, it was immediately absorbed into Selene's skin. "Thank you."

She glanced at her fellow gods for a moment, each nodding in agreement to something, then Selene turned back to her champion, "Artemis, I would like to bestow upon you a position that has not been held by a mortal in hundreds of years.

"Before the Overlord, there was a time when contact between humans and the gods was limited, and an outside force was keeping us from creating material forms. To combat this, Helios and I both chose a champion that would do the bidding of the gods. Helios chose The First Spinjitzu Master, while I chose the High Priestess of the gods.

"Artemis, we would like to bestow this position to you. With it, you would be able to use the Spirit smoke more effectively and contact us for assistance, though only in dire circumstances."

"Umm…" While extremely flattered that they wanted to give her this position, Artemis was flabbergasted that they would give it to _her_. "Thank you for this offer, but why would you even give it to me? I'm not even from this world."

"You are the only one who can even make contact with us." Xiuhtecuhtli stated irritably, "Your soul can demand our attention and drag us to you whether we like it or not. Selene was the only one who was supposed to be here, but your soul called out to all of us. It's something we can't ignore."

"The only other mortal that was able to do that was the first high priestess. So whether you like it or not, you were born for this job." Jupiter added.

Artemis took a deep breath. There was no way she could refuse this opportunity, every ambitious bone in her body was aching to accept, but there were a few questions that she needed answered first. "If the danger of the Overlord has passed, then why would I need to be able to seed the future? Also what counts as a 'dire circumstance' in your opinions?"

Helios sighed, "Despite what many people think, we have no knowledge of the future. Benzaiten may be the goddess of prophecy, but even her knowledge is limited. The only one who truly knows the future is the Ancient One, and they disappeared long ago."

"And a 'dire situation' would probably be classified as world ending." Skaidi said.

Artemis nodded, respecting that they had admitted to not knowing everything. After taking a few breaths to calm her nerves, she spoke, "I will humbly accept your offer." They all looked pleased to hear this. "But, as I have seen the future many times before, I doubt that I will ever take the opportunity to see it again. Trying to change the future usually only makes things worse."

The primordial gods nodded approvingly. Selene stretched out a hand and began to incant some ancient ritual, but Artemis didn't catch much as this plane began to fade away, and a bright light consumed her vision.

* * *

When Artemis woke up she almost thought that she was trapped in the purple fog again. Thankfully, it was just insanely dark in this room. In fact it was so dark that any natural light that shone through the cracks in the blinds were consumed by shadows.

Once her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, Artemis could tell that she was in a hospital room, the IV in her arm and heart monitor gave it away. She saw, and felt, bandages wrapped around her chest and arms, most likely covering the cuts from the shrapnel. Her body ached all over and she could really use a glass of water.

Just as she was about to look for the nurse button, the door opened to reveal a curtain of blinding light and a feminine figure. Her eyes adjusted once again and she saw that figure was actually Nya.

"Your awake!" she exclaimed once she saw her, and then proceeded to call a nurse. For the next half hour Artemis was poked and prodded all over, and was asked a ton of questions. After that, they left her alone with Nya.

Artemis turned to her, confusion apparent on her features. "Nya, what the hell happened? How long have I been out? And where are the guys?"

She just sighed, like this was the millionth time she had to explain something, but did so nonetheless. "You and the guys managed to destroy the Overlord, but you overloaded your powers in doing so. You guys were nearly dead when we got you to the hospital, but the doctors managed to stabilize you all after a couple of days. Cole was actually the first one to wake up, and you were the last. The guys are in a different room because the doctors had to seperate you and Lloyd. Your powers were canceling each other out and only making you two worse. Also it was easier to keep them in the same room since the hospital is so full right now."

Artemis nodded, not really understanding what Nya was talking about, but wanted to know what had befallen her friends, so she began to sit up and get out of bed. Nya raced over to her and began to push her back down, "What are you doing, you need to rest!"

She raised and eyebrow at Nya. "I don't have any injuries preventing me from getting up this time, so you can't tell me what to do." Artemis stuck out her tongue and continued to get up, pleased with her defiance. Nya just rolled her eyes and followed behind the small ninja, making sure that she didn't get hurt any further.

The room that the other ninja occupied was a fair bit larger than hers, as there were four beds in the room, and the proper machinery to go along with each. Only two bed had occupants, as Kai was currently sitting in a tub of ice water and somehow still on fire. Jay was in one of the beds, two metal rods attached to his shoulders, with a pair of large clamps connecting him to a battery that he must be powering, that had several thing plugged in and charging. Cole was laying as still as he could in his bed, bandages wrapped all over his body. Artemis could see cracks in his skin where banades were harder to place. Zane sat on one of the unoccupied beds, or at least she thought it was Zane. Any skin that would have been exposed on him was now replaced with a chrome like metal. Even his hair was now made of metal.

When they noticed Artemis and Nya, they all smiled widely and greatedd them happily.

Shocked at the condition her friends were in, Artemis spoke without really thinking, "What the hell happened to you guys? You look terrible! Except you Zane, you look great." The nindroid smiled smugly.

Kai answered her first, "You're one to talk, miss walking shadow." She rolled her eyes at his response, luckily Zane was able to give her an actual answer.

"Well Kai has been overheating for the past week, Jay is giving off to much electrical energy so they had to find a way to get rid of it, and Cole's skin has turned into tectonic plates. My old body turned into an iceberg and they could only recover a few things, so Borg offered to make me a new body. Also Pixal's body was destroyed so she decided to become an AI in my head."

"That's cool, what about Lloyd?"

"He's a giant ball of green light at the moment and isn't allowed to go out of his room. The staff is worried he might blind somebody." Jay offered helpfully.

* * *

As another week went by, the group's power levels slowly began to return to normal. Though there were still small side effects even after they were discharged.

Artemis spent that week looking up information about her new position, expecting to to find much, but instead found a font of information from bothe the internet. Apparently the High Priestess could do whatever she wanted, there was nothing stopping her from having a relationship, from eating certain foods, or from cursing up a storm when she stubbed her toe. The only real requirement Artemis noticed was the fact that she had to make bi-monthly sacrifices to the gods. There wasn't even anything specific she had give them, so for the first sacrifice she just gave Helios and Selene a bunch of glitter and the others a couple of boxes of pizza.

Once they were all out of the hospital, there were a few mishaps with fire and electricity, but other than that they were all fine. They got back into their daily routine of training, but this slowly began to bore Artemis. There was no challenge any more for her, and it slowly became a chore for her to do anything but sleep and read.

She knew that she needed to spice up her life, and she knew that doing something stupid would only alleviate the boredom for a few moments. So, Artemis decided to go job hunting.

The only person to catch on to what she was doing was Zane.

"What are you doing?" Zane asked when he found her going over the job offer section of the news paper.

Artemis jumped about ten feet in the air when she heard his voice, recovered, and quickly moved to obscure the newspaper. "Nothing!" Zane just raised an eyebrow, and she sighed. If she was going to tell anyone about what she was doing, it would be Zane, since he won't make a big deal out of it. "Fine… I'm looking for a job."

"Why?" He sat down next to her at the table, curiosity the only thing in his robotic eyes.

"Well, I've just gotten really bored recently and I feel kind of trapped just staying here and training. I want to go out and do something more useful with my time." She explained, hoping that he would understand.

The nindroid nodded and patted her on the back, "If that's what you feel like you need to do." He stood back up and exited the kitchen, and unbeknown to Artemis, was already forming a dastardly plot to get her a job.

About two days later, Artemis got a call from Cyrus Borg.

* * *

 **I am so sorry that this took so long! This chapter was really weird for me to write for some reason. the next chapter will be more fun, I promis and Lloyd will be in it (It depends on what your** **definition** **of fun is though, because it will** **certainly** **be fun for me).**

 **I watched most of season 8 though (not the** **finale episode yet so no spoilers) and I think it's one of the best seasons yet. Hurmi can go fall off of a cliff though cause I really don't like her. Also, they need to stop hurting the precious green bean, he is a soft boi and needs to be protected.**

 **Anyway, a review is always** **appreciated** **, and I hope you enjoyed :D**


	31. Big Changes

"Hello Ms Holt," Cyrus Brog's voice said through the phone. "It has come to my attention that you are currently looking for a job."

Artemis, who was currently watching a movie with Lloyd in their room, stood up motioned for him to continue watching and stepped out into the hallway. "Yes I am, how did you find out?"

"Oh, a little robot told me."

Her eyes narrowed and her gazed turned towed the game room where she knew the other guys were, and whispered, "Zane."

"Actually, Zane notified Pixal, who in turn told me. So he was more of the middle man, or nindroid, as it is." Borg clarified helpfully. "Anyway, I am actually in the market for a new personal assistant. It's become increasingly difficult for me to keep track of my schedule, and I would design a new AI unit but the Board is completely against it, for a good reason I suppose. Zane and Pixal have also informed me on you circumstance, different dimensions and all of that, and your education. So I believe you are more than qualified to become my personal assistant."

Borg continued to ramble on about the job for the next few moments, still trying to convince her to take the position, and once Artemis could actually get a word into the conversation, she answered him. "Of course, I'd love to. When can I start?"

The CEO was stunned for a moment, but quickly regained his composure, "Well, how about Monday?"

She nodded vehemently before realizing that he couldn't see her and actually verbalized her answer.

After the call ended, Artemis just stood in the empty hallway for a moment, basking in the glory of this moment. Finally her excitement hit its breaking point and was unleashed via screaming and jumping.

A second later, Lloyd burst out it to the hallway, sword in hand and ready for a fight. He matched her scream of happiness with a battlecry, "What's going on?"

Without hesitation, and without noticing her boyfriends confusion, Artemis jumped up and hugged him. "I GOT A JOB!"

"You… what?"

"Cyrus Borg just offered me a job and i accepted! I start on Monday! Holy shit, I don't have anything decent to wear! NYA!" Artemis was speaking a mile a minute and Lloyd was having a hard time keeping up. But as she sped away looking for Nya, he finally let her words sink in.

* * *

Lloyd walked into the game room, where the guys were all hanging out. Jay and Kai were playing a fighting game, Zane was watching, and Cole was on his phone. Lloyd sat down in one of the bean bag chairs and watched the game for a few moments before speaking.

"So Artemis got a job." He deadpanned.

"So that's why she screamed, I thought it was 'cause she saw a snake or something." Kai said offhandedly.

"Good for her. She was definitely starting to get antsy." Cole remarked happily.

"Yeah, good for her, she definitely deserves this since she basically gave up her whole future by staying here." Jay explained while moving wildly with his controller, probably trying to move his character more. "Thanks for doing that for her Zane."

Lloyd gaped at his fellow ninja, "Did everyone know about this except me?"

Zane nodded, "We didn't tell Artemis because it was supposed to be a surprize, and we didn't tell you because we were worried that your anxiety would get worse."

During their time at the hospital, Lloyd had been formally diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Everyone but Artemis knew, because they had all been there when he had been having his attacks, and he had no plans to tell her any time soon.

The fact that she had not told him about the job search, and that the others had known but hadn't told him, was not helping at all.

Lloyd glared at the nindroid, "Yeah, thats having the opposite effect, thanks." he murmured to himself.

 _This won't be the last time either of us keep a secret from each other,_ Lloyd thought bitterly.

* * *

Artemis's job was a simple one. She made sure the mini fridge in the office was always stocked, explained to the Board of Directors why Borg wouldn't be at the meeting, took notes of those meetings, scheduled appointments, helped Borg brainstorm ideas, checked his math when he was to sleep deprived to do it himself, and made sure he actually got sleep.

Well, maybe it wasn't that simple, but it made sense to her!

Artemis loved her new job. It helped her forget about the nightmares, and her general fear of this world. Even during her time off she spent most of it doing work, or planing what she was going to do at work. Then start all over the next day because she found a new way to organise everything.

Lloyd tried his best to get her to take break, but she just pushed him away. He didn't realize how normal this felt to her, burying all of her emotions into her work just so she could forget everything for a little while. That's why she had already made her choice for this next decision.

"Hey guys," Artemis said tentatively. They were all gathered at the dinner table talking merrily. "I'm moving into the city."

All the talking at the table immediately stopped and Lloyd choked on his drink.

"WHy?" Lloyd asked once the coughing had stopped.

"Because it's and hour commute there and back, and I don't like getting up at five in the morning just to get ready." She stated this as if this were a fact Lloyd should have already known.

"Have you found a place to stay yet?" Misako asked carefully, not wanting to agitate the young woman.

"Well actually, Borg included an apartment with the job, so I could have moved in from the start, I just wanted to see how this arrangement would work out first. Plus now I actually have the salary to actually pay rent, rather than dipping into my savings."

* * *

The first few months spent in that apartment were weird.

At first Lloyd had vehemently protested the move, even sitting in one of the boxes to show his disapproval and to prevent her from packing. But when she said that he would be moving into the new apartment too, he became a bit more agreeable. He was still distant with her, and became even more so at time went on.

Everyone else took this moment as the cue that they could all move out as well. So about a month after Artemis and Lloyd had moved out, all of the young adults followed suit. They even began job hunting as well, obviously finding the perfect time to start a normal life. But their pursuits did nothing to stop them from always hanging out at Artemis's apartment.

So it was no surprise to Artemis when she opened the door, after a long day at work, to find all ninja (and Nya) sitting in her living room watching TV.

"Hello people who don't live here." She said as she moved into the room. She half expected somebody to throw something at her, but was instead greated by various hello's. "You do realize that I gave you guys keys for emergencies only right?"

Cole, keeping his eyes on the TV, held up a half empty chip bag, "We ran out of doritos."

* * *

 **Bruh, it's so weird getting to this part, cause I never thought it would actually get here. But anyway prepare your feels because season four is about to go down and as you can see, since Zane isn't missing, things will be** **different. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**

 **Anyway, a review is always** **appreciated** **, and I hope you enjoyed :D**


	32. Panic! At the Restaurant

_L: Where are you?_

 _A: work why?_

 _L: You forgot didn't you_

 _A: forgot what_

 _L: What day is it?_

 _A: Thursday…_

 _A: SHit it's friday! I'm so sorry I'm leaving now!_

 _A: where were we eating again?_

 _L: The Chen's near our place._

Artemis quickly gathered her things, said a hurried goodbye to Borg, and rushed out of the office. She had forgotten date night again.

It was not an uncommon occurrence for her to forget things like this, sometimes she forgot the date all together. When that happened Lloyd would give her the cold shoulder for a few days. He should really cut her some slack though. She knew that spending time together was important to him, but her job was just as important to her.

Still, she hurried to her destination anyway, she really shouldn't keep him waiting.

It was warmer today, spring finally setting in. Her still shoulder length hair flitted in the breeze as did the skirt of her dress. Her wardrobe had upgrade significantly since taking this job, seeing as how tee-shirts and jeans wouldn't cut it at the office.

She was only a few blocks away from the restaurant when she noticed that somebody was following her. Artemis carefully turned her head to see that there was three somebodies.

Knowing that something was going on seh quickly texted Lloyd.

 _A: About 3 blocks away, being followed, if not there in 10 min come find me._

 _L: gotcha_

Once she got a reply, Artemis quickly entered one of the side alleys. Her pursuers did the same.

Half way in, she set down her purse, and turned to confront them. She really wished she had knife with her, but sadly there was a no weapons policy at work.

All three men were dressed like gang members, well muscled, heavily tattooed, and were at least half a foot taller than her.

"Okay guys, let's get this over with." She stated calmly, slipping into a defensive stance.

The one on the right charged at her first, a fist aimed right for her face. Artemis easily slid underneath the swing and delivered her own punch to his stomach, knocking the air out of him. She then pushed him, causing him to crash right into the dumpster.

The second one came at her with a knife, which she easily managed to disarm and use for herself. Artemis then somersaulted behind the attacker, and slashed the back of his calf, blood showering her. He quickly fell to the ground clutching his leg.

 _Two down one to go._

When the third man tried to attack her from behind, Artemis spun artfully out of the way, and thrust the knife deep into his side. He sunk to the ground groaning in pain.

Artemis went over to grab her purse, believing that the fight was over, when suddenly she saw movement behind her. The man who she pushed into the dumpster was up, gripping something in his hand.

The last thing she saw was a pipe headed straight for her face.

* * *

She was late, but she was always late. So everything must be fine. Yeah, everything was okay. Lloyd's leg was nervously bobbing up and down, every few seconds he glanced at the door, and kept checking the time on his phone. Artemis definitely knew how to drive him crazy.

 _Just a couple more seconds,_ he thought, _just give her a couple more seconds._

The other ninja eyed him nervously while eating. They had decided to join him when they heard the location of the date. The guys loved the delicious, yet terrible for you, noodles. But now the happy mood had deteriorated because of Lloyd's nervousness infecting everyone else, though they still worried for her too. Cole did also look quite worried.

When exactly ten minutes had passed, Lloyd bolted out his seat and rushed out the door. The others quickly followed, though Zane stayed back to pay. Together they combed through the streets hoping to find Artemis.

It took him thirty minutes to find her purse. Thirty minutes of wasted time. Thirty minutes to realize that she was gone.

But only two seconds for him to read the note and decide that he would do anything to save Artemis.

* * *

 _Master Chen invites you to participate in the Tournament of Elements. Secrecy is of the utmost importance, tell no one or suffer the consequences. If you ever want to see the girl again, meet at the pier at midnight in three days, and leave you weapons behind._

 _May the odds be ever in your favor._

* * *

 **So this was fun to write. Also the season 8 finally ruined the ending of this story and now it's getting longer. Oh and BTW, owhen season four ends, I will be taking a hiatus. I've this college thing to attend durring the summer so I'm hoping to get it done before that. Don't worry the chapters will get longer again, and I get to introduce a new OC in a couple of chapters.**

 **A review is always appricited, I hope you enjoyed :D**


	33. Let the Games Begin

Artemis woke up with a pounding headache, and in a tiny dark room. Her hands and feet were tied up and she was gagged. She sat up as best she could, but it was a bit difficult due to the strange rocking motion.

 _Oh great, I'm on a boat._ She thout dryly.

She knew that by now, however long it had been, Lloyd must have found her purse. Not to mention all of that blood. Hopefully he had told Borg that she was going to need a few days off.

Artemis began to mess with rope binding her hands. She had read somewhere about how to get her hands out of such bonds, and after a while was able to pull them free. She dare not mess with the rope binding her feet, because it would be harder to deal with.

She sat in that room for an indefinite amount of time, fading in and out of consciousness. Her headache slowly dissipating as time went on. When she heard the lock click, there was a mad scramble to put the still tied rope back around her wrists.

The door opened to reveal a pair of guards in ridiculous looking gear, like it was made out of bone. They untied her feet feet and begun dragging her out of the room, bearly giving Artemis time to stand. Instead of restiting, Artemis decided to play it cool and let them think that she was broken and wouldn't fight. They lead her around the ship, off the gangway, along the dock, and up to what she could only describe as an over exaggerated driveway. To her left and right was an expanse of jungle, while in front of her sprawled a massive mansion.

Once they were at the weird driveway, she made her move.

She slid her hands out of the rope, and yanked both of her arms out of the men's grasp. Before they could realize exactly what was happening, Artemis grabbed the sword one of them had, slashed both of them across their ankles and made a mad dash for the jungle.

Artemis ran as fast and as far as she could, and even when she felt far enough away, she still ran further. Only when she tripped over an exposed tree root, landing on her face, did she stop.

As she gasped for breath, and flipped onto her back, Artemis took in her surroundings. Tall trees swayed overhead blocking out most of the sky, but kept the sweltering heat trapped within. Vines dangled from branches and the undergrowth shifted with hidden dangers. Then Artemis noticed that she was still holding the sword.

The blade was shaped more like a scimitar than a katana, but it would have to do. She then cut a length of vine, tide it around her waist and let the sword rest there. Artemis may prefer knives, but that didn't stop her from learning how to use other weapons when the ninja were training her.

After taking a few minutes to rest, she gathered up her strength and climbed up one of the trees. It took her awhile to climb, and by the time she was at the top most most branches, the sun had already begun to sink.

She was higher than necessary, the thin branches bending under her weight. In the distance she could see the roof of the mansion (it was closer than she would have liked) and a mountain in the distance. But that didn't matter because her suspicions were confirmed.

Water, in every direction.

This was an island, and she was screwed.

* * *

Lloyd was pissed. Nobody was taking this seriously. Nobody seemed to register that this wasn't the time to screw around. A life was at stake and those idiots were freaking out over the one marginally famous person on the ship. His friends, and father, were no better than the rest.

Apparently one of the Elemental Masters on board was actually the well known actress, Aria Johnson. She had been in several tv shows and was now staring in a big action movie coming out soon. While he would admit to being slightly star struck when he first saw her (he was the one who pointed her out), but there were more pressing matters at hand, like Artemis being kidnapped.

So Lloyd sat pensively on the deck, battle strategy after battle strategy flowing through his mind. His thoughts were disturbed when someone sat down next to him.

"So, what'd they say to get you to come?" asked a feminine voice.

"They didn't say anything. They kidnapped my girlfriend and I intend to get her back." Lloyd said cooly.

She hummed understandingly. "Yeah, they did the same thing to me. They didn't kidnap anyone but they did threaten to kill most of the crew of the movie I'm working on."

At that statement Lloyd looked over at her. Her olive skin tone was distorted by the greenish light, and her dirty blonde hair fluttered in the salty sea breeze. His heart dropped to his stomach when her saw her eyes though. They were a silvery blue. More blue than silver, but just enough for a wave of loneliness wash over him, wishing for pure silver instead. It was Aria.

"I've heard from some of the others that their friends and family were being threatened too. Apparently not all of us could be summoned with the promise of glory." She added bitterly. The tone mixed strangely with her sweet sounding voice, the smile that tried to support the world slipping from her face.

Lloyd huffed, "I don't plan on sticking around to win. Once I find her, I'm getting us all out of here." His red and golden eyes reflecting the light like fire.

* * *

Artemis was perched in a tree, closer to the mansion today, keeping an eye out for the shift change in security.

The past three days were hell on her. The skirt of her dress was ragged, and parts of it were caked in mud. There was dried blood on her skin, her hair probably could host a family of birds, and she was growing more desperate each day.

Artemis had very few survival skills. She was great at building fires, making shelter and getting fresh water. All thanks to her elemental powers. Finding food was not one of those skills. So she had begun stealing food out of the trash from the mansion.

But today was different. More people had arrived.

Perched high in the tree and out of sight, she could see the twenty or so figures being lead towards the mansion. Artemis could easily pick out the bright colors of her friends, and sighed. Those idiots, they had fallen for the obvious trap.

She then whispered to herself, "Ladies and gentlemen, let the hunger games begin."

* * *

 **WOuld you look at that! An update within a week! guys I think hell has frozen over, this never happens.**

 **Apparently having a deadline helps me write faster. I should do this more often. Though it doesn't help when I'm watching anime, playing pokemon, and need to get several school projects done before the end of the school year. Welp, with that said it's time to watch Ninjago at school (for research purposes!)**

 **Remeber a review is always appriciated and I hope you enjoyed :D**


	34. Authors Note

Hey so remember that time when I said I would get the next chapter out before now? Ha! So do I.

I am really sorry it's taken this long. I just got to a spot in the story where I completely went off from what i had initially planned, my brain just said "nope" and stopped working. I have fixed it and am going with what i originally planned to do, meanwhile I will be linking my deviantart page on my boi, so you can laugh at all of the ponies i used to draw. ALSO, on my deviantart I will be posting clumps of sketches that correspond to this story, each sketch with be paired with a song title that i used as an anchor for that moment, not every chapter will be featured.

Once again, I am so sorry for the long wait, I promise, cross my heart hope to die, that I will get the next chapter out this week. If i don't you have permission to yell at me in the reviews.


	35. Problems

This place was hell, and the heat only solidified that fact in Lloyd's mind.

There had been four fights in the last two days, and that was only the first half of the tournament. To add to the anxiety of it all, Chen decided who would compete against who, almost at a whim, so there was hardly any time to prepare.

Most of the Elemental Masters were friendly enough, Aria and Skylor especially. Though some of them were pretty strange and had nasty attitudes, but Lloyd supposed that he wasn't in much of a position to talk trash. From what he had heard from Aria, most of them had friends or family being threatened, but some of them were just assholes in general.

When they had first arrived at Chen's' mansion, there had been a surprised round free-for-all. Thankfully all of the Ninja had made it by each finding a "Jade Blade." The one who had been eliminated was Karloff, Master of Metal. That night the ninja snuck around the place so see where Artemis might be held. Instead they found a large chamber with a ton of cultists watching as Chen's assistant drained Karloff's power.

After witnessing that, they all argued about whether or not they should tell the other Elemental Masters. They ended up doing just that last night, after Kai managed to win his fight by the skin of his teeth.

Today had been no less stressful. Zane had lost the his fight against the Master of Time, and was dropped down one of the many trap doors the Chen loves so much. As the sun set on the second day of the tournament, Lloyd could feel a faint tug at the back of his mind as the Master of Ice lost his powers.

Even after looking the whole night he still hadn't found Artemis, and his building anxiety was doing him no favors.

Lloyd was currently standing on the balcony connected to his room and was staring blankly into the jungle. His room was at the back of the mansion, clear view of the lush jungle in front, and below, a gorgeous view of the dumpster. Yay.

Even though he was only a story above the trash, the smell didn't actually reach him, so that was nice.

Suddenly a flicker of movement in the trees caught his eye, and it was much too big to be a squirrel.

Just as he pinpointed the figures location, it jumped down from it's perch and made a beeline for the trash. Lloyd watched at this, what he now discerned to be a person, dug around in the trash for a few moments, grumbled in annoyance, kicked the dumpster lightly, than left.

Evercurious, Lloyd decided to follow, the person must have heard him as he descended from the balcony and sprinted away. He sighed, and ran after them as quietly as he could.

They must have been exhausted because he caught up to them fairly quickly. Suddenly they whirled around, unsheathing a sword in the process, and stopped the blade just before it met his neck.

In front of him stood Artemis. Her floral dress in tatters, shoes missing, scratches along her arms and legs, hair a disaster, but those pure silver eyes couldn't hide from him. After a tense second she lowered the sword, an exhausted smile gracing her features. "Don't scare me like that Lloyd, I could have killed you."

He paid her words no heed, scooped her up into a hug, and moved to kiss her. But before he could she pulled away.

"Dude, I'm absolutely disgusting right now." Lloyd nodded understandingly, though still peeved that she wouldn't let him kiss her. She wasted no time getting down to business, "Lloyd, what's going on? I can't summon ice anymore, is Zane okay?"

He sighed, "The guy who set all of this up, Chen, found a way to drain the powers of the Elemental Masters." He then regaled her with the tale of the past few days as they walked back to the building.

"Jesus Christ Lloyd! If Garmadon said that it was going to be this dangerous then you shouldn't have come! You know I would've found a way to get back by myself!" Artemis exclaimed frustratedly.

Lloyd lost it.

In his anger he was pantomiming strange movements, waving his hands around with nothing but a frustrated look on his face. In the end he began banging his head against a tree for a few moments before turning back to Artemis, one eye twitching with unleashed rage.

"Why the hell would you think that I wouldn't come to find you?" He asked through gritted teeth.

Artemis stared back, seemingly unfazed by his outburst, "Because you're smarter that this, or at least I hoped you were. If your emotions get in the way, you shove them down until you can't feel them anymore!"

"Well I wasn't raised that way!"

She glared at him, a deadly look in her eyes. She glanced towards the building they were headed to, then back at Lloyd. "I'm not going in there."

He rolled his eyes at this, "What, your just gonna stay out here the whole time?"

"I've been doing fine so far."

"You're eating trash."

"Your point being?"

Lloyd huffed. He could just carry her back, but she would just stab him and run away. He might as well try to make a convincing argument to preserve his organs. "Look, all of the guys are worried about you, and it would probably help them if they didn't have to worry about you during their challenges."

"Fine."

For the next hour and a half Artemis told the guys of her own adventures of living in the jungle for a week.

* * *

 **I did it! I posted within a week! I kept my promise! HAHA!**

 **No but seriously I am so sorry it took this long to update. Sadly it might be a while longer for the next one, I'm attending a summer gap program for freshmen at my college, so I don't know when I'll be able to update again. I will get started on the next chapter immediately, so you might not have to wait to long, but no promises. In the mean time I have posted some sketches of this story on my deviantart, which is linked in my bio.**

 **Reviews are always** **appreciated and I hope you enjoyed :D**


	36. How to be a Failure 101

Cole woke up the next morning with a smile on his face. Artemis was okay. For once the rock he was sleeping on felt comfortable, which was nice because generally rocks aren't comfortable. He got up and took his time getting dressed, he was in no hurry to find out who would be fighting today.

Cole strolled into the dining hall, grabbed some food and made his way over to the table where the other ninja were. He took a quick glance at his friends and noticed that Lloyd looked like he was about to fall asleep in his waffle.

"You okay kid?" Cole asked as he sat down.

This caused the younger ninja to jerk awake and yawn. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just slept on the floor is all."

Kai, ever the devil's advocate, thrust himself into the conversation. "Oooo, what did you do?"

Lloyd gave him a deadpan look, "Nothing. Artemis was just taking up the whole bed, plus she hasn't slept in one for a while. Just wanted to give her the pleasure of a good night's sleep."

"And your sure that it had nothing to do with any arguments that you might have had?" Jay asked innocently. Cole laughed as he watched Lloyd drop his head on the table, thankfully missing the waffle, when suddenly Chen's slimy looking assistant appeared.

"The first fight shall commence in two hours. The competitors will be the Master of Earth and the Master of Wind."

And just like that, his good mood was thrown out the window.

* * *

As Cole prepared to step into the colosseum, he went over the rules in his head. This time it was an all-out brawl. No crazy terrain, just him the dirt floor and his opponent. All Cole had to do was either pin the Master of Wind for ten seconds or knock them out.

"I would suggest coming up with a strategy Cole, the Wind Master will easily slip through your attacks if you charge blindly into the fight." That's what Garmadon had told him seconds after the competitors had been announced. The only problem was that he couldn't control his element effectively without a weapon. So, unless by some miracle there happened to be a scythe or a hammer in the arena, he would be forced to attack outright.

The gate began to open, the guard behind him pushed him forward, and Cole stepped out into the colosseum.

Just before the light blinded him, he could see the gate on the other side of the arena opening. When his eyes adjusted to the light, Cole spotted a figure he didn't want to fight.

Aria Johnson stood at the opposite end, a determined look on her face. She wore a dress, like the style Nya usually wore, but with slits up the side that came up to her hips, and leggings underneath. Her long wavy dirty blonde hair was pulled back into a braid.

Cole could hear Chen talking about something or other and quickly scanned the arena for anything useful.

A glint of light caught his eyes. To his far left, equidistant from both, was a weapons rack, and on it sat a beautiful scythe gleaming in the sunlight.

"Begin!"

At this Cole took off running, using his long legs to his advantage, and managed to make it to the rack first. He grabbed the scythe and immediately swung it underhand in Aria's direction. The blade cut through the earth like butter and sent a wave of rock towards her.

The only problem was, she wasn't there.

Cole whirled around searching for her, and was shocked to see her behind him, a paper fan in each hand. Aria moved to strike him with a closed fan, but he blocked this and other attacks easily though they were still steadily moving backwards.

Just as they reached the center of the arena, Aria opened one of her fans swung it upwards across her body, and wind blasted Cole. The scythe flew from his hand and his back collided with the wall. He felt the stone crack upon impact and knew that there would be a Cole sized crater when he got up.

Luckily, Cole had a naturally thick skull, which was helpful when you hit your head on something. However, that didn't mean getting thrown into a wall from 30 feet away didn't make his head ache or his vision go fuzzy for a few moments.

When he blinked the distortion away, he saw that Aria hadn't moved, and that the scythe was now on the other side of the arena again.

Time to think of a new strategy.

Cole got up unsteadily, determined to win this fight, or at least make it harder for her to win. If he lost, Artemis would be practically powerless and that was just to big of a risk to take right now.

He took a deep breath and connected himself with the earth, feeling every slight vibration that moved through the ground. He felt Aria shift into a fighting stance and could feel the audience on the edge of their seats. After few moments he once again felt his opponent shift, but this time it was due to impatientness. Cole smirked when she reached her limit and finally charged towards him.

Cole launched himself into the air, sailing over the actress's head, landed with a nice tuck 'n roll, and sprinted towards his weapon. When he reached it, he spun around and swept the weapon into the ground once more. Aria quickly moved out of the way, expecting the wave to aimed at her, but this time it swung around her, cornering the elemental master.

Now Cole charged, confident that he would be able to take her down now that she was trapped. He was surprised to find out that it would not be as easy as he thought it would be. Aria was matching him blow for blow, and even landed some solid hits.

After a few moments of fighting, he could feel himself slowing down, the ache in his back and head strengthening. He was beginning to get dizzy as he watched the wind master dance gracefully around him, her element aiding her with every attack.

Just as he had gone to strike her with his scythe, Aria gracefully dodged the attack, and managed to grab it. She strengthened her grip on the weapon, yanked it out of Cole's grasp, and cast it aside all in one fluid movement.

For half a second they both stared at each other. His still had her cornered in the ring of earth, but his back was towards the opening.

 _Oh shit._ He had created the perfect opportunity to use his trap as a wind tunnel.

Then, Aria opened a fan, spun in place, and a typhoon of wind sent him into the other side of the arena.

Light hurt, noise was killer, and his back felt broken. Cole's arms were stiff, almost like they were imbedded in something. Cole couldn't move, and he didn't want to.

What type of hangover was this? How much did he drink? Wait, he hadn't been drinking. Then what had he been doing? It better have been important because getting suck in a wall is not fun.

When Cole's ears stopped ringing, he noticed a very angry conversation was going on.

"You said either pin your opponent or knock them out. He isn't going anywhere any time soon." Yelled a female voice.

A whiny voice responded, "I don't count imbedding someone in a wall as pinning and look he's still awake!"

Cole opened his eyes at this and saw a very pretty woman yelling at a guy wearing terrible snake cosplay. At the sight of this, a few things came back to the forefront of his mind, mainly the fact that he had been fighting that pretty woman and the snake guy was an asshole.

He could also hear his friends yelling at him to get up and encouraging him to keep fighting. But Cole knew that there was no way he would be able to win this fight. She could out maneuver and outthink him. It also didn't help that he was thrown into a wall by her, twice. They could still do this without him, they had to because there was no way in hell he was facing her wrath again.

"I give up." The arguing stopped, and all eyes turned to him. "She beat me fair and square and if you can't see that, then I give up."

The ninja began to protest, saying that he wasn't in his right mind because of the hits to the head. Chen just gave an indignant huff and motioned for guards. They came over to him and dislodged his body from the wall, then Chen pressed one of his infamous buttons, a trapdoor opened beneath him, and all Cole saw for the next few seconds was darkness.

* * *

 **Well, this took a while to post. I had this mostly done for a couple of weeks, I've just been so busy with school work that I haven't had a chance to type it up. And I now know to never bring my physical story notebook to class ever again because people want to read what I'm writing and it would be embarassing to admit that I, a 19 year old female in college, am writing fanfiction about a childrens tv show.**

 **We will get back to Artemis soon, but we wont be with her for too long. This story arch really requires multiple points of view. Also, for those who were wondering, yes I did spisifically come up with a new OC just so Jay and Cole wouldn't have to fight, because they have no real grudge against each other in my story. Another thing, yes Aria is the master of wind because there always has to be someone to represent an element, it doesn't matter if their related or not.**

 **Oh, and did anybody catch the rock paper scissors joke i threw in there?**

 **Anyway, a review is always appriciated, and I hope you enjoyed :D**


	37. Falling! To Your Death!

Artemis had made some stupid decisions but had to be the worst.

It was a day after Cole had lost his fight, and Artemis felt like shit, so she had been laying in bed and not doing anything. That's when Nya had barged into the room spewing some nonsense about find out Chen's master plan. She explained that she found a spell book that contained a certain spell that could turn people into Serpentine. That effectively ruined her day.

Artemis immediately got up and wrote a note to Lloyd, explaining that she was okay, just helping Nya. Then the two women snuck out of the room and made their way down to the maid's quarters for help. Apparently, they had easily figured out Nya's disguise and decided not to tell anyone. They too hated Chen.

Once they were armed with the proper supplies, and decent clothing in Artemis's case, the two headed off in to the jungle. Just before they parted they exchanged a few more words.

"Listen if we tear that page in half then it'll be harder for those idiots to cast that spell." Artemis said shakily, still freaked out by the prospect of Serpentine. Nya quickly agreed, and they split the page in half, after that they ran in opposite directions.

* * *

It was becoming a common occurrence for Lloyd to be incredibly pissed at the universe and his girlfriend. She had a bad habit of disappearing at the most inopportune times. At least this time she had the decency to leave a note.

 _Lloyd,_

 _Don't worry I'm fine. Nya needs help, so I'll be with her. Don't know what's going to happen but stay safe and don't get caught in one of those stupid trapdoors!_

 _Artemis_

The problem was, Kai could no longer find Nya, so those two were essentially off the grid. Why were women so complicated!

Lloyd really wanted to scream and punch something, but that would be inappropriate considering he was in an airplane with the rest of the competitors and his dad. Jay was sitting nearby, still moaning about how he got hurt in the Roller Derby yesterday. Kai was just being moody and distant.

Suddenly, the screen just behind the pilot's cabin turned on, and lo and behold, Chen's face appeared. "Hello final eight! I see that you are all eager for the tournament to commence so one of you can win the Staff of Elements. But instead of competing for a Jade Blade, you'll be looking for something different."

The picture on the screen switched from Chen's ugly mug to live video feed of Nya running through the forest, and Artemis sitting in a tree eating a sandwich. The latter of the two was wearing what looked like a cross between normal Gi and a kimono. It only had the left sleeve, the other stylishly missing, and it only came down to around the middle of her thighs. Thankfully she was also wearing leggings underneath, and it was all purple, so it fit her aesthetic nicely.

"Nya!"

Skylor looked at the fire ninja, "You know her?"

He gave her a pointed look, "That's my sister."

Lloyd watched as Artemis suddenly noticed the camera near her. She squinted at it, as if she were puzzled for a moment, then she gave a dangerous smirk. Artemis packed away her sandwich, put a small backpack on, and stood up on the branch. She proceeded to flip off the camera, and all who were watching, pounded her chest like she was a gorilla, and jumped off the branch to swing away on a vine.

"And that's my girlfriend." Lloyd sighed, not surprised by her actions.

Chens face reappeared on the screen. "You are to find either one of these girls. They have stolen something very important of mine and I would very much like it back. I personally don't care what you do to them once you encounter one, just be sure to bring the body back to the mansion."

Lloyd saw red. Nobody was going to hurt Artemis. He would make sure of it.

"Anyway, you have ten seconds until the bottom drops. Oh, and I would suggest grabbing a parachute since there are only eight."

Well shit, now he had to worry about his dad too.

There was a mad scramble of people grabbing parachutes, before the bottom of the plane opened and they all fell out.

He heard all his friends panicking, but his mind was only focused on making sure his dad got down alive. He dove headfirst towards a parachute, grabbed it, the made his way towards Garmadon. Lloyd shoved the 'chute into his fathers protesting hands, then pushed away. Now to make sure he got out alive.

Lloyd flattened out his body to slow his decent. He could hear his father shouting at him to summon the dragon, but Lloyd didn't like using his powers at all. It brought up too many bad memories.

From somewhere in the back of his mind he could hear somebody screaming at him. Telling him that if he didn't summon Aurum, then he would die. Lloyd tied to protest, but that voice kept yelling about how Artemis would feel if she found his dead body again.

Just before Lloyd passed through the canopy of leaves, a golden dragon burst into existence and caught the falling ninja. He steadied himself on the dragon and took in his surroundings. Everyone had gotten a parachute and were landing at different spots all over the island. He saw his father land not to far away and motioned Aurum to go to him.

* * *

Aria was able to grab a parachute rather quickly, using the winds to her advantage, and even managed to further guide herself to a safe landing spot.

When she touched down, she quickly removed the parachute from her body while at the same time scanning the area. Aria used a light breeze to shift the nearby foliage and get sense if there was anyone nearby.

It was her lucky day.

"I know your out there." The wind master called out. The only response was the swaying of the trees. She stayed quiet for a few more moments, waiting and watching.

Suddenly, a small figure jumped out of a tree and body slammed her into the ground. Once Aria was pinned the figure, who just happened to be Lloyd's girlfriend, started punching her in the face. She felt her nose crack and blood rush from it. Having enough of this, Aria used a gust wind to shove her opponent away.

Both women rose to their feet and sized each other up. Apparently, even though this Artemis was a pipsqueak she could really pack a punch.

Once again, Artemis charged towards her, this time her hands surrounded with some sort of power. When she reached Aria, even with having the perfect opportunity for a right hook, she purposely missed. She did this again and again, until Aria noticed the pointed glance at a tree. Then she remembered that there where cameras hidden everywhere, and Artemis was just trying to make this look like a legit fight.

So, Aria did what she does best, she acted. Dancing around blows that should have hit her.

"Look, I really don't want to hurt you, and honestly I have no desire to turn you or Nya over to Chen." Aria explained in furious whispers as they danced.

"I can tell!" Artemis shot back. "I'm really sorry about this, but it has to look real."

Artemis flipped away from Aria, then threw a ball of something at her. It landed on her face and stuck like glue. The force of the impact sent her sprawling on the ground, the substance even blinded her.

When Aria landed on the ground, flat on her back, she stayed there. After half a second, she heard Artemis run back into the jungle.

"I like your outfit!"

"Thanks! Yours is really cute too!"

* * *

"We can't go in now Lloyd there are to many guards and we'll be spotted."

"Nya, we have to do something! We can't just leave them in there, Chen probably has their powers by now!"

Artemis watched this argument in the tree above the trio. She had overheard the group talking about plans to infiltrate the manor and stopped to find just the people she was looking for.

After Garmadon said a few words to calm down his son, Artemis dropped down from her hiding spot. "Hey guys."

The words were barely out of her mouth when the air was squeezed out of her lungs, Lloyd holding her tightly. He then pushed her back, keeping her an arm's length away, and glared at her. "What the hell were you thinking!"

"Hey, at least I left a note this time!"

"I don't care about the note, though it is appreciated, Chen literally sent out all the contestants to basically kill either you or Nya. Why would you do that!"

Oh good, Nya had already informed him about the situation they were in.

"Look Lloyd, we can discus this later, right now we have bigger fish to fry." Artemis replied, a no-nonsense tone in her voice. The Green Ninja nodded reluctantly.

Over the next few hours, they came up with a game plan. Once it was completely dark out, they made their move.

Artemis was able to lead them to the back door, where she and Nya had left the day before. Thankfully the door was unlocked, and they were able to quietly make their way inside. The group stealthily made their way through the long corridors, Artemis still leading the way as she was able to see the best in low light.

She stopped at one of the corners and peered around it, to make sure it was clear. It wasn't, but that wasn't the surprising part. Kai was walking along the hallway, almost as if he were patrolling it. This couldn't be good.

Artemis took a deep breath and stepped out of the shadows, she could hear Lloyd cursing up a storm behind her. "Hey Kai."

The Fire Ninja raised an eyebrow at her appearance. "Had a hunch somebody would be sneaking around, but I didn't think you'd be dumb enough to actually do it Artie." He gave a small chuckle and crossed his arms. "Though if you're here, that means the others can't be too far behind you."

Before he could finish talking, Artemis interrupted him. "Kai what are you doing? Are you working for Chen now?" When he didn't reply she laughed, "Of course you are, why am I not surprised."

"Listen Artie, this'll all make sense when it's over. I promise." The sincerity in his voice surprised her. Taking another look at him, Artemis could tell that he really didn't want to fight her.

She smirked, reading Kai's message loud and clear, reached behind the corner and dragged Lloyd out from his hiding spot, who in turn brought out the other two. "Okay dude, you caught us. Take us to Chen."

* * *

 **Of course when the end of the semester rolls around I immedietly start writing again. Nothing beats pushing off assignments that sre due the next day like posting two cahpters in a day!**

 **FYI: I have seen most of season 9 except for the last couple of episodes. Tiny sassy Wu is the best and nobody can tell me otherwise.**

 **Now, who thinks I shoud work on that bs assignment i just got today, or write another chapter? Hmm, whats that, you say another chapter. Well what kind of an author would i be if i denyed my readers one of the parts I've been antisipating to write! Nah, but serriously with my luck and procrastination skills, it probably wont be out until like December. (I promise it wont)**

 **Anyway, a review is always appriciated, and I hope you enjoyed :D**


	38. What goes up, Must come down

Kai had barely lead them into the inner most chamber when Chen was already demanding they be brought over to him.

"I'm so glad you could make it." He said dryly. Once Artemis realized Chen was going to monologue, she quickly tuned him out. She gazed around the room, hoping to find something interesting when suddenly there was a painful tugging sensation in her chest.

It was if all the energy she had was gone. Artemis fell to one knee, gasping for, trying to search for her patron, but could not find her. Then she felt somebody rummage through her person, and quickly pull out a piece of parchment.

 _No._

They could not get that. They would not win.

Artemis gathered her strength and stood up, trying to shake her self free of the guard. But she could only watch as the room was flooded with white light.

A second later, the man who had been holding her back, had scales and a tail. She froze. This was bad. No, this was worse than bad, this was horrible. Not only had they turned into snake people, but they had specifically been turned into Anacondrai, the worst type of snake person.

Artemis began struggling to get out of her captor's grasp. She wanted to get very far away and then set the island on fire so she would never have to see these abominations again. Sadly, said abomination was now strong enough to keep her arm in an iron like grip.

Memories of serpentine began to flood her mind, memories of a broken foot, a broken arm, broken ribs, smothering heat, and a knife to her neck.

Just as she was about to have a complete mental breakdown, a large shudder vibrated across the room. Some kind of drill burst through the wall and with it came the Elemental Masters all wearing prison uniforms and looked ready to start a riot. Two seconds later, after the new serpentine regathered their wits, the forces collided.

Artemis, still struggling to get free, watched as Lloyd incapacitated his captor then punched the daylights out of hers. He then dragged her along the battlefield, probably trying to get her somewhere safe when he was suddenly jumped (can serpentine jump?) by a guard. Once Lloyd let go of her hand, Artemis was on auto pilot.

She unconsciously dodged attacks, only wanting to stay away from scales. Attacking was not a priority, evasion was. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Cole beating the absolute shit out of one guy. In the other direction she could see Jay smashing serpentine heads in with the help of Zane.

Even with all the Elemental masters fighting, even with some of the snakes who had defected from Chen, there still weren't enough people to be a challenge for this army.

Just as this thought passed through her head, a crash resounded throughout the room. Everyone froze as the Elemental Masters all glowed with power for a moment. The tide had changed.

When Artemis felt her powers return she immediately created a dome of night around herself while simultaneously curling into a ball. The dome forced away the serpentine that had surrounded her, but they didn't give up easily as they just began to try and smash their way through.

While everyone else couldn't see into the dome, she could see through it on her side. As she took a second to recollect herself, Artemis took this chance to check on her friends.

Kai was fine, Cole's okay. Jay accounted for. Zane doing his work. Nya taking down baddies left and right. Garmadon was fighting Chen, and Lloyd was about to be stabbed in the back.

Wait, what.

She checked again and saw that she was right. Lloyd was so preoccupied with one foe, that he didn't notice the other sneaking up behind him.

Artemis had to do something. But what could she do? With serpentine all around her there was nothing she could do. Somewhere from the back of her head a tiny voice said _Ask for help._ So that's what she did.

Artemis reached down inside herself, past her soul and the constellations of her friends, right to where the inky black void resided, and she could go no further. In that inky black she could make out the faint outline of double doors. She pried them open with all her strength and shoved an arm through the gap, reaching for something that wasn't there.

Suddenly a had took hers, and Artemis was filled with divine energy. Silver flowed through her veins, the power of the wolf was hers to summon. But what if it wasn't enough to save him?

"Please, help me." She pleaded. The grip on her hand tightened and all she saw was white.

* * *

Lloyd was punching some serpentine in the face when a wave of power washed through the room and nocked everyone off their feet. The dome that had been protecting Artemis now engulfed the entire chamber. Then she rose from the ground, her arms, mouth, and eyes wide open, like she had been possessed. Stars swirled around her body and carefully made their way around the room, making it seem like they were all in space.

She closed her eyes and suddenly her hair got longer, and it changed from chocolate brown to midnight sky and swayed in an invisible breeze. Waves of ancient power washed off her. When her eyes reopened there was no hint of Artemis in them as they shone with omnipotent power.

"I am Selene. The first Primordial, Goddess of the night, creator of earth and ice." It was definitely Artemis's voice she was speaking with, but it echoed unnaturally like there was someone else speaking through her. "The gods created you in our likeness, and you have defiled that gift. Repent, and you shall be spared. Continue to rebel…" The stars around them began to take shape into wolves. The biggest stood behind the Artemis puppet, growling menacingly at the crowd. "And you shall pay with your lives."

Almost everyone in the chamber bowed to the goddess. Each fearing the wrath of the first primordial. Out of all the gods, Selene's wrath was what mortals feared most. But as Lloyd got to his knees, he heard a scuffle behind him.

Just as Lloyd turned his head, Chen sunk a dagger into his father's gut.

"If I go, you go." The snake whispered just loud enough that Lloyd could hear.

At that moment, the starlight beasts were set loose, found those with impure bodies and desires, and stripped them of their souls. The screams of the dying drowning out Lloyds call to Garmadon.

* * *

Artemis regained consciousness just as her body hit the floor.

Her head felt like it had been expanded then shrunk in a mater of seconds. Her limbs felt heavy, her eyes hurt, and there was an unfamiliar weight on her back. She sat up unsteadily and noticed two things. First, Aria Johnson was by her side asking if she was okay. The second was that her hair had grown almost a foot in length.

"I'm fine Aria." She mumbled when the actress restated her question.

That's when she heard Lloyd.

He wasn't talking to her or yelling at her. No, it was much worse. He was crying.

Artemis swiveled her head around searching for him. She spotted him surrounded by the ninja and huddled over a body. Garmadons body. She quickly got up and raced towards him on unsteady legs. The group let her pass through, hoping she would be able to comfort him.

She knelt next to Lloyd and brought him in for a tight hug, but he pushed her away.

"Lloyd?'

He glared at her with cold eyes, "You did this."

"What?" She hoped with all her heart that she had misheard.

"You did this." His voice rose from a seething whisper to a malicious shout. "YOU DID THIS! IT'S YOUR FAULT HE'S GONE! YOU RUIN EVERYTHING! YOU DON'T EVEN BELONG IN THIS WORLD, SO JUST LEAVE AND RUIN SOMEBODY ELSE'S LIFE!" Lloyds face was read with fury, eyes now alight with unbridled rage.

Her eyes burning with unshed tear, Artemis tried to reason with him. "You don't mean that."

Lloyd turned back to the body, head hanging in defeat. "Just leave."

That statement, though barely above a whisper, caused something inside Artemis so crack.

Before the tears could start, Artemis calmly got up, turned away from the grieving man, and walked out of the chamber. She wandered the halls aimlessly, no destination, just going.

He was right. She did ruin everything for others. She had been the cause of her parents' divorce, been the stain in her mother's new relationship, and a burden to others. She was the source of all that was wrong in the world.

She was right. Artemis was worthless. Nothing good ever came out of her existence, she was just an attention hog that wanted all the spotlight. She had no capacity to understand that others had needs, she only thought of herself.

She was right. Artemis was a waste of space. Using up all the oxygen that could be meant for far greater people than herself and would never be anything but garbage.

She was rude. She was mean. She was stupid, selfish, annoying, a bitch, a whore, and just fucking worthless.

Finally, her legs gave out from beneath her and she crashed to the floor.

It was almost as if a bomb had gone off in that second. One moment all the decorations were pristine and orderly, and just as her knees hit the floor a wave of force shattered everything within ten feet of her. From the shallow crater in the floor, Artemis sat crying for an indefinite amount of time. After a few moments her powers began reacting to her emotions and shadows began rising from the floor, each depicting another nightmare from her past.

* * *

 **So, how are you guys? I hope you all had a wonderful day, I certainly did. Not for the reasons you think though, believe me it killed me to write this chapter because i never thought i would get here. Also it just hurts.**

 **I have good new and bad news. I'm going home on August first which means I will be reunited with my drawing tablet and can bestow up you all more sketches on my deviantart. Bad news is that I'm going on a hiatus for a while. I'm not sure when I will return, but I swear that I will. If I'm not back in like six months you have permission to pm me and yell abou how you want me to update. Hopefully it wont come to that :)**

 **Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts on this chpater and I'm so sorry if I hurt you D:**


	39. Realizations

Lloyd was numb. Nothing made sense. Everything was gone, and he did nothing to stop it.

Dead.

His father was dead. A father he only had for a little while, one who tried to kill his friends _multiple_ times, but he was still his dad.

The past few hours had gone by in a blur for the Green Ninja. There had been others grieving over lost friends, bodies were dragged away, buried, and soon enough Lloyd was lead on to the ferry that brought them here. They left the port an hour ago, and only now did he realize where he was and what was going on.

 _Where's Artemis?_

Lloyd looked around. He was sitting on the main deck of the ship, there were other people but only a few Elemental Masters. And when they noticed that he had come out of his stupor they _all_ gave him dirty looks.

That's when the pain of the aftermath finally hit him.

"No," he whispered to himself, "no,no,no. What did I do?" Lloyd buried his face into his hands ashamed of what he had said to her.

* * *

He sat by his father's body, still in denial about what happened. Lloyd felt the building shake as _she_ let out her rage. He didn't bother to look up when he heard people leave.

 _Of course they prioritize_ her _._

Suddenly, Lloyd was picked up by the front of his gi and was ment with Cole's enraged eyes. Then the Earth Ninja smashed his fist into Lloyds face. The impact sent him reeling onto the bloodstained floor, something warm and sticky now flowing from his nose.

Just as Cole was about to lunge at the downed ninja again Kai and Zane rushed forward to hold the goliath back. But that didn't stop him from shouting.

"YOU BASTARD! YOU ASSHOLE! YOU MADE HER CRY! YOU DON'T DESERVE HER AND YOU NEVER WILL!"

* * *

No.

No, that couldn't be true. Artemis wouldn't cry over something so stupid. Especially if it was something he said.

 _She doesn't leave room for emotions._

 _But why is she crying then?_

Struk with the stupidity of what he had said and a surge of adrenalin, Lloyd stood up. "Nonononono." He had to talk to her. He had to make things right, tell her how stupid he was and try to fix this broken relationship before it was shattered completely.

 _"YOU DON'T DESERVE HER!"_

Just as he took a step forward Cole's angry voice rang through his head, and he stumbled. Could he be right? If Lloyd already caused her this much pain then what was left to salvage. Who's to say this wouldn't happen to them again.

 _I don't deserve her._

* * *

Borge was kind enough to let Artemis have some time off after returning to the city.

After her breakdown on the island Nya, Jay, _and_ Aria made sure she was okay. They stayed with her through each crying fit and emotionally absent moments.

For the past three days back in her apartment, Artemis had done nothing productive. She slept, she ate, and she thought. Nya and Jay decided to stay with her as long as was needed to make sure she didn't do anything stupid, or needed a shoulder to cry on again. Surprisingly all her tears had dried when they reached port.

At the moment Jay and Nya were out doing errands while Artemis was lying in bed with no intentions of getting out. She was staring at a blank wall, the thoughts in her head buzzing wildly.

 _"The relationship was doomed from the start!"_ One though shouted. _"It was a heat of the moment decision and now their on different paths."_

 _"That doesn't matter, they love each other!"_ another said in a dreamy voice.

A quiet thought in the back of her mind spoke up, _"Love doesn't mean you get an automatic happily ever after. You have to work for it."_

 _"But neither of them did! So how do you know he really wanted to be with you?"_ the first train of thought continued. _You don't! For all I know he could be revling at how upset I am._

Artemis suddenly sat up in bed, a determined look on her face. _This is what everyone wants you to feel. 'Specially him. So it's time to get up, put your big girl pants on, and show this world what your really made of._

Three hours later Nya and Jay returned to a spotless apartment. Artemis popped out of her room at the sound of their return and greeted them with a smile.

"Hey guys."

They turned to her in shock. When they left this place had been a disaster. Artemis had been a disaster. Now she stood before them clean as a whistle and smiling as if nothing wrong had ever occurred.

Nya took a step forward, a worried look on her face, "Artemis, are you okay?"

"Of course I am." She scoffed. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you had a really traumatic experience and nobody would blame you for taking a while to get over it." Jay stated calmly.

Artemis scoffed again. "Oh please, I've dealt with people like him before…" her sentence trailed off before she could finish her thought and was now staring off into the distance.

Nya placed a gentle hand on her arm, and cautiously asked, "People like who?"

Artemis shook herself out of her stupor, but when she turned to Nya she was no longer smiling. "People who get off on hurting others. And I've learned the best way to deal with those people is shutting them out and showing that they can't affect you."

Nya and Jay stared at her, too shocked to speak.

"Anyway." Artemis's friendly demeanor returned and she quickly went in to her room and dragged out a suitcase. "Would you mind taking this back to him. I'm sure he would like to have all his clothing back."

Once again the two gaped at her, flabbergasted by her actions.

After depositing the bag, Artemis moved past the pair, grabbed her purse, and headed for the door. "Now, If you'll excuse me."

Jay managed to snap out of his trance just as she reached the door. "Wait, where are you going?"

"There's someone I need to talk to."

* * *

 **Hey guys! So much for that Hiatus! That only motivated me to write more! And oh boy, these next few chapters are gonna be fun. Fun for me, not you. I get to ruin you guys emotionally :D Now I know how the writes at Marvel felt when writing the end of Infinity War, and boy is it fun!**

 **Anyway, I finally finished season 9 and it was actually really good and a really solid season finally.**

 **Two things real quick. 1) The next chapter will be uploaded pretty soon. 2) I plan to go back and edit past chapters so they make more sense and align more with the vision i have now. I would highly suggest going back when I do revise because I'm gonna add a lot more.**

 **As a reminder, reviews help chapters come out faster, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter :D**


	40. Time for a Talk

Artemis stood in a field of stars. Space swirled around her in its everlasting dance. When suddenly, it coalesced into a striking woman.

When Selene was fully formed, she was not greeted with respect. No, she was greeted with an angry glare full of ice.

After a long moment of silence, Artemis finally spoke up. "Why did you do it?"

The goddess tilted her head in confusion, "You asked for help."

Artemis took a deep breath, trying to real in her temper. "No. Why did you possess me, then kill all those people?'

Steel met steel as a battle of wills was being fought.

"Humanity was given a gift. They perverted it." Selene said simply as she shrugged her shoulders.

"And?"

The goddess rolled her eyes. "I possessed you because it was apart of your contract."

Artemis clenched her fists, ready to attack as she was getting tired of these bullshit answers. "What contract?"

"The one you pledged yourself to when you became High Priestess."

"No, Skaidi said that if I asked for help you would come. She said nothing about being possessed." Artemis was trembling with rage at this point. All she wanted to do was strangle the goddess infront of her.

"Funny, Skaidi never said anything about us being able to _appear_ in the mortal realm." Selene countered.

The ninja took a deep breath. She needed to keep her cool. Who knows what could happen to Ninjago if she pissed off a primordial. "Why did you do it then?"

"Because the Primordial Gods made a deal. And I intend to keep my end of the bargain." Selene spat out. The picture of calm suddenly losing it. "We made a deal to never step foot in the mortal realms again all because of those stupid children!"

Selene's appearance began to change as she stalked around the mortal before her. The goddesses being was consumed by pitch black, and soon the only way Artemis could find her was by tracking the disappearance of stars.

"Do you know what it's like to go a thousand years living in a void!" the goddesses voice grew deeper and a menacing echo followed each word. "Being surrounded by squabbling idiots! Not even being able to feel my husbands hand!" The being surrounded Artemis, trapping her in a vortex of shadows.

This wasn't Selene anymore. This was Nyx.

"I don't see why you complain!" There was an insane lilt in the voice now. The echo making it even more disconcerting. "Any human would jump at the opportunity to be the host body of a god! You just happen to be the only meat suit strong enough to hold a primordial! Even your predecessor wasn't able to handle us!"

The young brunette was now standing in the eye of a shadowy hurricane,listening to the goddess mocking tone, her now long hair whipping about. She took a deep breath controlling the fear inside herself. Her next few sentences were spoken calmly and clearly.

"Nobody likes being imprisoned. Nobody likes having their choices taken from them. And _nobody_ likes being forced to do things they don't want to do. So guess what," Artemis glared a the raging storm, a smirk gracing her scarred features. "I'm never asking for help again."

As Artemis turned around and walked away, Nyx screamed in rage. With that done, she opened her eyes.

Artemis was kneeling in front of a totem of wolves, one of six unique totems in the room. She slowly stood up, careful not to trip on the priestess robes she was wearing.

After Artemis had left her apartment she headed straight for the temple of the Primordials. She needed a question answered and this way had a far more successful chance of speaking with the gods than waiting for them in a dream.

As she stretched an acolyte rushed up to her. The acolyte bowed before she spoke. "High Priestess, what did you see?"

Another smirk appeared on Artemis's face, "Don't worry Lucy, she won't be able to hurt Ninjago. Not as long as I'm around."

Lucy's expression grew fearful. Artemis didn't blame her either, she was shit at keeping peace with the gods. "What did you do?"

"I pissed off the oldest Primordial god."

The acolyte let out a sigh, "Why?'

"Because she messed with the wrong person."

* * *

 **I didn't intend for this chapter to be this short. I just wrote this scene and knew that it had to be a solo chapter. ajdfkjhwhsahgdlfawjhg this is like my favorite chapter i think. I love it. I'd** **also love to know what you think in a review, that would be lovely.**

 **I hope you enjoyed :D**

 **P.S. next few updates will be revisions of earlier chapters. I highly suggest you read those :D**


	41. News to Me

While Artemis had managed to make the lemons, life had given her weep, Lloyd was wallowing with his.

He barely slept, and what little sleep he did obtain was filled with nightmares. Lloyd even tried working himself to the point of exaughtion, but even that rest was tainted.

At the moment, Lloyd was headed to the kitchen to find something that wouldn't taste like ash but stopped outside the door when he heard voices.

"How's Artemis doing?" asked Kai.

He heard Jay sigh before responding, "Honestly I have no clue. When we dropped by today, she was acting like everything was completely fine."

"Why's that so bad?" Cole asked, "Doesn't that mean she's getting over the whole situation?"

"Not when she's doing it out of spite." There was a moment of silence, and Lloyd could only assume That the others were beckoning him to continue. The surrogate brother sighed again and began explaining. "Artimes thinks that Lloyd likes that she's depressed about what happened. So, in her mind the only logical way to screw with him is to force herself to be happy and pretend like everything is fine."

"I'm a robot, and even I know that's messed up."

"After that happened, she left!" Jay continued, probably making wild gestures to go along with the story and his rising voice. "She got back to her apartment just before I left to come back here!"

"Where'd she even go?"

"She went to the Primordial Temple."

They all groaned when he said this.

"What'd she do this time." Cole asked defeatedly.

Lloyd listened as Jay explained what went down in Artemis's vision and how she a bit too pleased with its outcome. They were all stunned to hear this.

The woman Lloyd knew would never have done this. She had told him that she thought of the Goddess as a sort of motherly figure and friend. Why would she do this?

Then again, did he really know her?

* * *

After that Lloyd continued his wallowing, this time with added guilt. He trained as if his life depended on it, trying to keep himself from thinking about _her_.

Sadly, the thother ninja were still upset with him.

Whenever he and Zane were in the kitchen together while llod was eating. His food would mysteriously freeze.

After Jay brought back all of his stuff from the apartment, his laptop and phone no longer charged.

Once he was sparing with Cole, outside. The earth ninja had finished the fight immediately by almost completely burring Lloyd alive, with only his head exposed. Cole only let him out after Misako told him to grow up.

Kai set him on fire.

As more and more time passed, their punishments for Lloyd became less brutal, then nonexistent.

* * *

A few months later Lloyd was once again walking towards the kitchen, in hopes of finding some leftovers from the previous night. Once again, he stopped him-self before entering. There were people speaking in hushed voices. Lloyd was about to just come back in a few minutes but stopped. nobody bothered to talk about anything important around him anymore, they thought he would break again, so the only way he could gain information was by eavesdropping.

"You have a death wish man."

The second voice scoffed, "Yeah right."

It was Jay and Cole.

"It's only been four months, and if you go after my sister _now_ , you will have an angry mob after your skin."

Lloyd froze. His mind unable to compute what was happening, and at the same time the inner workings of the universe had been explained to him.

"You're overexaggerating." Cole responded nonchalantly.

The microwave beeped, and whatever was in it was taken out.

"She doesn't like you that way Cole." Jay tried to explain, frustration evident in his voice.

"How do you know?" Cole asked with mouthful of food, "You two talk about stuff like that?"

There was a pause.

"Well... No." Jay admitted. "But look at what happened. Look at how much that traumatized her and Lloyd. It's only been four months man, I think it takes more time than you realize to get over something like that."

Cole sighed, "Yeah, you make a good point. Guess I'll just have to keep playing the waiting game."

The conversation shifted, and Lloyd began to process the information that had been presented to him.

For the first few seconds, all Lloyd wanted to do was go in there and rip Cole limb from limb. But he thought better of it.

Instead he left and went back to training. Better to festering your anger, then deal with it.

* * *

Lloyd was standing in a village that he didn't recognize. It wasn't like the thriving metropolitans that he was used to. No, this place had only about fifteen houses that resemble small wooden shacks with thatched roofs.

He knew that he wasn't really there as no one noticed him. Hell, one person even walked through him.

This was a dream, right?

The girl Lloyd was following couldn't be much older than him. She had very long dark brown hair and was wearing a simple grey yutaka. Her skin was surprisingly pale, almost as if she had never set foot in the sun before. But the way she spoke to the villagers suggested otherwise. The people seemed to know her, actively greeting her and sometimes chatting before going on their way.

Suddenly, there was a loud roar.

The girls head whipped towards the sound, her red eyes going wide with fear.

The people reacted in much of the same way, but much more dramatically. Held items were dropped, children were dragged inside houses, and people were ducking for cover.

Before Lloyd could figure out what was going on, his questions were answered. A massive white dragon descended from above. The beating of its wings creating gusts of wind that rattled the homes. It landed in a nearby rice field.

Lloyd was tugged along as the girl made her way towards the dragon.

Once the view was unobstructed, he got a good view of the beast. Lloyd had seen his fair share of dragons but they were nothing compared to his one. Large horns sat upon its head, while smaller spines fanned out and framed its face. Its wings were war torn and tattered, it was a miracle that it could even fly.

Though the scariest feature were the claw marks running across its neck. The ugly gashes maring the pearly white scales that lined its chest. Other scratches adorned its body, but none as gruesome as these.

When the girl reached the dragon she bowed politely.

"Mother." her tone was even and her face devoid of emotion.

"Akemi." The dragon answered in a rough voice, though distinctly female. After a huff, she continued speaking. "Where have you been?"

The girl raised an eyebrow and gestured towards the village. "Here."

The dragoness bared her teeth and snarled. "Why?"

The girl shifted, strengthening her stance, letting anger contort her face and voice. "To see what it means to be a human! I'm tired of sitting in the nest everyday pretending to be something I'm not!"

The dragoness matched her daughters rage with another snarl, "That's no excuse to leave!"

"It is when you won't let me do anything! I don't know anything about my people because you kept me hidden away!"

"SILENCE!" roared the dragoness, easily drowning out the sound of her daughter. When the echo passed there was an eerie silence. The mother let out a huff of annoyance before speaking. "You have been gone a week that is long enough. Get on my back, we're going home."

"No." Before her mother could say anything, she spoke. "There's no use mother. You're made for battle not finesse. You risk losing me even if you try to pick me up."

There was a long, tense, silent moment. Once again broken by the dragon. Pure unadulterated rage in her eyes. "My daughter, I swear to you this. Within three full moons you will be back with your siblings in the nest. If you don't come back within that time, this village and everyone in it will burn."

As the dragon took off from the now ruined rice field a hand touched his shoulder. When Loyd turned around the scene changed with him. What had once been a peaceful village was now nothing more than an empty field. There was nothing left, not even a wall.

Then, someone materialized before him. It was the girl he had followed, but now she was older. Her long hair was now tied up in a bun, yet her bangs were still free. The yutaka had now been replaced with a deep red kimono.

She smiled gently at him. "You have a chance to reconnect, do so before the opportunity is lost."

Her smiled saddened and she placed a hand on Lloyds cheek. "You look just like him."

* * *

 **Okay, you have ever right to be mad at the lack of updates when I left you on a cliff hanger.**

 **The next chapter will becoming out really soon, as in later tonight or tomorrow.**

 **As always I hope you enjoyed, and a review always helps :D**


	42. Back to Square One

Lloyd stood in front of a familiar door. It had been months since he was last in this building. What happened in early May had sat poorly in his stomach for far too long.

The conversation he had overheard between Jay and Cole had spurred him into action. He had to apologize before anything else between them was destroyed.

Just as he was about to knock on the door it opened.

Artemis stood in front of him. There were dark circles under her eyes, her cheeks seemed hollow, her shoulders were slumped, and her long hair was slightly disheveled. Despite all of this she was dressed professionally and looked reasonably presentable.

When she opened the door and noticed someone was there, her back and shoulders straightened. Upon seeing that it was him, she visibly deflated.

"Lloyd?"

He froze.

This was happening.

He was actually standing here.

She was in front of him.

Holy shit.

* * *

Much to her surprise, when Artemis opened the door to leave for work, Lloyd was standing there.

His arm was outstretched, s if he were about to knock. But as it opened, his arm shot back to his side. His face paled and began to shake like a leaf.

"Lloyd?" Concern flooded her voice. When she said his name, Lloyd began to hyperventilate.

Even after four months to think about things, Artemis was still upset with the Green Ninja. But she could tell when someone was having a panic attack. She had plenty of them herself while in college.

Artemis immediately dropped her purse and dragged Lloyd inside. She guided him to the couch, got him to sit down, did the same, and held his hand while he calmed down.

"Lloyd it's okay. You're safe. It's only me." She spoke quietly as not to startle him.

He opened his mouth as if to speak, but no sound came out. His free hand moved towards his head, fisted his pale golden hair, and began to turn into a ball.

Artemis just rubbed his back, trying to soothe him.

It was almost an hour later when he calmed down enough to unfold from the ball and just slumped on the couch like a potato. To be safe she waited for him to speak first.

"I didn't plan for that to happen." he said wryly.

Artemis squeezed his hand, "Nobody plans for an anxiety attack Lloyd. Are you feeling better?"

"No, but I have to talk to you."

Lloyd pulled his hand out of her grasp and rested both elbows on his knees. His voice and body shook as he began to speak, looking her straight in the eyes.

"I am so sorry for what I said to you. I wanted to say this sooner but I was terrified that you would just completely reject my apology." He took another deep breath but before he could say anything else Artemis spoke.

"Lloyd, we were falling apart even before that happened." He looked at her, surprise written on his face. Artemis sighed, a sad smile on her face.

"I was never the best girlfriend." Lloyd began to protest but she stopped him. "Lloyd I never opened up like you did. I kept the wall up because I was afraid of losing you, and terrified at the heartbreak that would follow. Ironically, that was my undoing." She took another deep breath, preparing for her next statement. "Thank you for apologizing, it means so much to me, but I can't accept it."

Artemis watched the hope shatter in his eyes.

"Lloyd, you brought back some extremely traumatic memories for me. Things I haven't thought about in years." Artemis closed her eyes, trying to hold back tears. "You see when my parents got divorced, they got shared custody over me. And while my dad got re-married, my mom decided that I was the source of all of her problems. No rent money? She spent it on me. Missed a date? She had to take care of me. She constantly told me that I was a waist of space, that I'd never be good enough for anyone. The only person who said otherwise was my step-mom, and she died when I was nine. the only way I managed to get through all of that was to burry my emotions and make it seem like she wasn't effecting me anymore."

"I'm so sorry, I-" Lloyd began to apologize again but was cut off.

"-You never knew." She gave him a sad smile." Because I never told you. I never wanted to. Just like you never told me about your anxiety."

Lloyd looked down, his face turning red from embarrassment.

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, none of this means that I want you out of my life completely. We've tried that, and it seems like it's not working to well. Besides, if Ninjago is ever in danger again, I would be pretty awkward if we weren't on speaking terms." He let out a small laugh. "And I'd rather be friends than never see you again."

There was a long pause before Lloyd looked at her, a crooked smile on his face. "You said everything that I was gonna say."

Artemis let out a small bark of laughter, "Yeah, I've become pretty good at dominating a conversation."

"I barely even got to speak."

They laughed happily together for a few moments before quietly sitting together and enjoying the company.

"I'm going to diner later, do you wanna come?" She asked, hoping to spend more time with her best friend.

Lloyd gazed at her suspiciously, then jokingly asked, "Are you asking me out on a date?"

Artemis snickered at this, "No, I'm going to diner with Aria later and am politely extending an invitation."

HE raised an eyebrow at the name. "Aria?"

"Yeah, Aria Johnson."

"You mean the actress."

She nodded. "we became pretty good friends after I beat her up on that Island."

"Wow you certainly have connections now." Lloyd said in amazement.

Artemis shrugged, "I mean I could hook you up with a pretty decent job if you want."

"I'll keep that in mind." He said while laughing. "But I think i should head back to the monastery. I need a twelve-hour nap.

She smiled. As he began to stand up, Artemis noticed his eyes. The red and gold had finaly mixed and become a beautiful golden amber color.

"Looks like your eyes aren't bipolar anymore." He gave her a questioning look, and she explained. "They aren't switching from red to gold anymore."

He nodded thoughtfully, then extended a hand to help her stand.

"You wanna know a fun fact?" She asked.

"sure."

"My eyes used to be blue when I was younger."

* * *

 **Hello friends! Okay so heres what goin down in my life that made me not update. College is a bitch. I love it, but I swear to god, I need better study habbits. I spent all week playing minecraft while I had two papers due. Guess what, neither got done. Please, children learn from your elders (or a peer, whichever works for you) develop good study habits before you go to college.**

 **Anyway. I have major plans for this story and maybe even a spin off featuring my version of how the Ninjago was created and the first spinjistsu master. If your interested let me know. And if your currious about the eye color comment, you'll just have to ait until I get to season 9! MUAHAHAHAHAHAH!**

 **NAh but seriously I forgot how much fun writing this story is, even though this chapter killed me. I used the song 'Words Fail' from the musical Cear Evan Hanson as inspration for Lloyds side. To get a bit more context about Artemis I suggest listening to the song that inspired her tragic past 'My Grand Plan' from the Lightning Theif Musical. i really like musicals.**

 **One more question I would appreciate being answered, do you guys want to see the rest of the sketches I did for this story on my deiviantart? I really want to know becuse I have almost all of them ready, I'm just scared to post them.**

 **Anyway, sorry for the rambling. I hope you enjoyed, and a review is always appriciated :D**


	43. Whom the Fuck?

The past few weeks had been the most pleasant Artemis had had in a long while. With her and Lloyd back on speaking terms and actually friends again, things were finally becoming more reasonable.

She recalled the lunch she had with the ninja after patching things up with Lloyd;

 _"Whaddaya mean he set you on fire?"_

 _"I mean, Kai literally set me on fire, Cole nearly buried me alive, Zane froze everything I ate, and Jay screwed up my laptop."_

 _"You have no proof that was me!"_

She snickered at the memory.

It was a beautiful October day. Pleasantly chilly, and only a slight breeze. Currently Artemis was walking back to work after having lunch with Aria. She was walking through the museum plaza when she saw Lloyd enter the large building.

This wouldn't have bothered her if Lloyd hadn't been wearing the new Gi Borg had given the ninja a few days ago.

Only one thought passed through her head. _Welp, about time something crazy happened._

Artemis sighed and followed her fellow ninja.

When she entered the building, two security guards immediately walked up to her.

"Sorry ma'am. The museum is closed today." The younger one said, trying to be polite.

She raised an eyebrow at this. "I just saw the Green Ninja walk in here."

"He's not here to sign autographs." The older guard said. "He's here on official business."

"I know." Artemis lied smoothly. "I'm an associate of his and am here to help."

The two guards looked at each other, both seemed unsure of what to do.

Eventually the older guard spoke, "I'm sorry ma'am but-"

There was a shout from one of the exhibits. Artemis shoved passed the guards and ran towards the noise. An unsettling spooky wind blowing through the corridor she ran down.

Much to her surprise, Lloyd wasn't even in one of the main halls. He was off in a side room where some of the artifacts were kept. He was lying near the center of the room face down and clutching his stomach. There was sand all over the floor. Artemis knelt down next to him.

"Are you okay?"

He coughed a bit before answering. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Did his voice sound different?

She took another look around the room. A few large crates had fallen over and nearby was an unconscious night guard. Lloyd was also wearing a strange blue chest plate, (blue was not his color).

"What happened?"

Lloyd sat up and coughed again. "Apparently something freaked out the night guard last night and they wanted me to check it out." He began to stand up as he continued speaking. "Well, when he showed me what happened in here, those crates fell, and I guess he got hit."

Artemis sat there for a moment. trying to put the pieces together. That's when she noticed the guard's eyes were open and starring into nothingness, and a small pool of blood gathering under his head. When she looked up at Lloyd, she watched as his hair slowly turned from blonde to black. She saw that the circles under his eyes were an unnatural sickly green.

She slowly stood up, her eyes never leaving his person. "What did you do to Lloyd?"

The man in front of her looked confused. "What do you mean Artie? I'm right here."

Artemis shook her head disbelievingly. "Nah man. Something isn't right here."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh please. If I wasn't Lloyd than how would I know that your mother mentally abused you?" Her eyes widened, and she slunk back towards the wall. "That the only person who ever really loved you died when you were still a kid?"

His tone had gone from light and questioning to imposing and malicious. The imposter slowly stalked forward, trapping Artemis against the wall. As he whispered the next sentence his eyes changed from amber-gold to dark green.

"How would I know that he still loves you?"

Artemis has three general rules in life, though they have been updated a bit since traveling to a new dimension and basically becoming a superhero.

1) Always expect a fight.

2) Keep the innocent safe at all costs.

3) When in doubt, get in a fight.

As soon as not-Lloyd said that, she punched him in the face breaking his nose. When he reeled back in surprise Artemis tackled him. She straddled his body and pinned him down with one hand, then started punching the imposters face with reckless abandon.

He caught her fist on the fourth punch and gave a wicked grin. "Wow, haven't even been on a date yet and I'm already between your legs." Then he effortlessly flipped the over. Now Artemis was trapped, her hands pinned on either side of her head. She struggled mercilessly. The suggestive smirk never leaving his face.

"That kid's memory doesn't do you justice, now I know why he finds you so appealing." His crass comment was met with spit in his eye. All that did was make him laugh. "Don't you see babe. For all intents and purposes, I am Lloyd Garmadon. He just isn't the one running the operation."

The chest plate glowed and an aberration appeared over his shoulder. While Artemis continued to struggle, the misty form descended and entered her body.

* * *

Wu was sitting quietly in the kitchen, having a nice peaceful cup of tea, when suddenly his four original students stumbled into the room.

"What is it boys?" He asked calmly.

"Our powers aren't working." Jay explained, rather panicky.

Wu raised an eyebrow at this and took another sip of tea, "Lloyd might be doing some training of-"

He was cut off by Cole. "No master, none of our powers are working. We can't _feel_ them anymore."

A heavy gust of wind rattled the monastery, the winds had changed. Wu's eyes widened. "Oh no."

The old man stood up, pushed his way past his students, and went outside. The ninja followed.

The wind was fast and relentless. It had pushed the far eastern clouds right over the monastery valley. Across the courtyard, at the entrance, stood a lone, cloaked figure.

"Give me the staff Wu." The voice had a threatening lilt to it. the younger men stepped in front of their sensei. Wu, sadly, recognized the voice.

"Get off of our property you creep!" Jay shot back, the ninja were gearing up for a fight they could not win.

Before any of them advanced to far Wu grabbed Zane's arm. "Zane, go get Nya and Misako and get them to the new Bounty."

The nindroid hesitated for a moment, obviously unwilling to leave his brothers in arms, but followed his master's instructions and went back inside.

Wu sighed. His father always said that the past returns in mysterious ways.

* * *

Cole was on the Bounty with everyone else watching Kai get his ass handed to him by mystery wind dude. When suddenly there was a thump behind them. They all turned to see Artemis standing there. Her hair was stark white, deep green circles under her eyes. She was still in her work clothes, and she carried her purse.

"Artemis?" Zane asked quietly.

"Artemis can't come to the phone right now." She said, with a voice that was much silkier than Artie's. "But she does want you guys to have this." She dropped the purse she was carrying, the contents spilling over the deck.

"Why...?"

The possessed Artemis shrugged. "Part of the deal I made with her. Do this and I get control over her body. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go help my boss and her," she pointed at herself, "ex-boyfriend."

* * *

 **Hello again Friends! 5,6, and 7 are gonna be one hellava ride! Because in my mind they happen one after the other with very little time in between. Season 5 is for some reason my favorite one to wright about because its jsut so absurd. This chapter was also really weird for me to write, and is by far the most risque chapter I've written. There were also to many puns that appeared in my mind. Such as: impasta.**

 **Also this chapter was really inspired by the song "Ment to be Yours" from Heathers The Musical. or at least the first bit was.**

 **In other news, I have finished writing in an entire three subject notebook just to draft this story out, and I already have another 3 subject ready.**

 **Remember, a review is always helpful and I hope you enjoyed :D**


	44. Ghostbusters

"92,946 bottles of tea on the wall. 92,946 bottles of tea. Take one down pass it around- "

"WILL YOU PLEASE STOP SINGING ABOUT TEA!"

For the last five hours, Kai had endured this never-ending song. There was a brief intermission due to surprise appearance of a few ghosts, but now the others were back at it again.

"Okay, fine." Jay said, finally relenting. He had very much enjoyed annoying Kai. "But I refuse to sit on this yak in silence."

"If Artemis were here, she would surely tell us to keep annoying you." Zane remarked casually, an evil smirk on his face.

"No," Kai rebutted, "She would tell you idiots to stop singing about tea."

Cole let out a long heavy sigh. "No, she would do something much worse."

"Like what?"

Cole sighed once more, a smile formed and seemed to be trying to keep in laughter. "If there's somethin' strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call?"

The others sighed this time and begrudgingly answered in unison. "Ghostbusters."

"If there's somethin' weird and it don't look good, who you gonna call?" Cole said line was said with a bit more enthusiasm.

"Ghostbusters!" The other three chanted, starting to match Cole's enthusiasm.

"Who you gonna call?"

"GHOSTBUSTERS!"

All for ninja pumped their fists in the air. The song continued for a long time. Eventually most of the words were lost and there was only the continuous chant of "ghostbusters".

If anyone had passed by this marry band of travelers, they may have thought that they were summoning a demon.

* * *

"God's Moro stop being so whiny. If your so worried about the boy regaining control, then why didn't you make deal like me?" the possessed Artemis asked bluntly.

"Because Rin," Moro answered in a frustrated tone, "deals come with strings attached, and I need access to his memory. I don't think you should underestimate her; from what I've gathered she is far more capable than this idiot."

Despite their previous encounter in Stixx, the ninja had somehow managed to master Air-jitsu and make it through the sky bound portal. They had also managed to prevent the ghostly team from progressing as well. Though there was a noticeable difference in the group, as the tallest one was now a ghost.

She snorted at this excuse. The other two ghosts looked at her fearfully. Moro may be the one in charge, but Rin was in control from the moment she was summoned. Moro had only been bestowed with this mission because of his elemental powers. But Rin had mastered many fighting styles when she lived, and even mastered spin-jitsu. She had been a leader in the Overlords original army over a thousand years ago, and soon she would lead another army into another glorious battle.

Regrettably, she had made the deal to possess this human out of necessity. This human had great power, but with a very limited knowledge on how to use it. In fear of being repelled completely from the meatsuit the two made a compromise. The intruder would only gain access to basic abilities. While Artemis's mind would remain completely intact and completely untouched.

It didn't matter if the girl was smarter than she looked, Rin was in control.

* * *

Waiting is the worst thing in the universe. But sadly, patience has its uses.

While the outside world did its thing, Artemis stayed in the depths of her soul acquiring all the strength that she could, while also passively gathering information from the outside. Information regarding Moro, her possessor, and what their goal was.

She could still see the constellations that signified her friends, but the connection was muddied. From what she could tell everyone was fine. No major injuries yet.

At the moment Artemis was vaguely aware of what was going on. They were all in some other realm, each group trying to get some sort of weapon. The ninja were nowhere to be seen, and apparently the leader of the local populace was not truly neutral. He tilted more towards the chaotic neutral asshole side of the spectrum.

Finally, Moro left his companions behind, leaving two ghosts and a possessed person in the hallway.

That when she acted.

Artemis turned and yanked open the obsidian doors that lead into the void, reached in and grabbed Selene's arm. The goddess protested immensely at this, but a fraction of her power was still transferred over.

In the Outside world, her eyes began to glow softly, and she lifted up an arm.

"Uhm, Rin what are you doing?" asked the archer.

But there was no response from the ancient warlord. Instead there was a surge of divine power and suddenly, standing before them, was a starlight wolf.

It paid the two ghosts no attention, instead it fully focused on it's summoner. After a second, the beast launched towards Artemis and sank its teeth into her shoulder. It turned in mid-air and landed behind her, still latched on to her. The wolf pulled back suddenly, teeth tearing through muscle, and dragged her away. But it wasn't dragging Artemis anymore, it was dragging a ghost out of her.

Artemis took a deep breath of fresh air. She was back.

She took a moment to look at herself and was pleased to see that he was indeed back in control of her own body. A crazed laugh escaped her.

"Oh my god. It worked!" She began laughing excitedly again. This was amazing! She could still use her true potential even if the gods hated her!

Finally, Artemis noticed the company she was with. The three ghosts before her were staring at her bug eyed and confused. The one who had possessed her, Rin, was sitting on the ground her shoulder leaking ectoplasm in the same place Artemis bled. But she was far from human.

While her entire body was shaded with green, it was so dark that her skin must have been jet black when she was alive. A pair of curved horns emerged from her head, one broken in half, that were complemented by two-pointed ears. Her snarling lips revealed massive fangs. The ancient samurai armor that she wore had been modified to accommodate four arms, and to hold just as many swords. Even through all of the green, two blood red eyes glared back at her.

Rin the Warlord looked far too much like Garmadon when he was evil.

Artemis smiled awkwardly and started to back away slowly. "Wow, um, well it was wonderful to meet all of you, but I really have to get going now…" As that sentence trailed off, Artemis bolted in the direction she had seen Moro go.

After running up a flight of stairs, she emerged onto a rail less balcony with a smashed open door. There were definite remains of a fight, but no sign of her idiots. She looked out past the edge of the building to see that she was in a place where falling definitely meant death. Oh goodie.

There was shouting in the distance and Artemis turned to see the idiots she knows and loves on another roof top, yelling and throwing things at Moro. Who held a very large sword in his hand.

* * *

 **HAPPY NEW YEAR FRIENDS!**

 **Holy shit, I love this chapter. not only does it have puns but also foreshadowing! YAY!**

 **So the ghost who possessed Artemis was actually a last minute decision to make into an actual character, and even later last second decision to make her into a oni. This arch will also not be the last we see of her either.**

 **On a side note, everything in season five leading up to this moment is basically the same, just with the added bonus of Artemis being possesed. So yes Cole is still a ghost. There will be a few minor changes, but those'll be explained in the next chapter.**

 **Also I will be going back and editing chapter 9, when its up I recomend you read it, because even more foreshadowing! MY STORY IS FNALLY COMING TOGETHER!**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and remember a review is always appriciated! :D**

 **Yo just to prevent confusion, no new chapter today, but I did add a bit to the chapter where Lloyd was super depressed. I suggest you go back and read it. :D**


	45. Questions

"WHY THE FUCK DID YOU STOP ME FROM GETTING THE SWORD!"

"Shush. I get to ask my questions first."

Kai, who was boiling over with rage, visibly deflated at this dismissal. But this didn't stop the drama queen from gesturing angrily at everything and muttering curses under his breath.

"Okay." Artemis glanced around the Bounty. She had been surprised to see it when it had descended and saved her and Kai from being chopped to pieces by Morro. Jay and Nya had done a brilliant job upgrading it. But then she noticed the stranger who was standing at the helm, steering the mighty ship. "First of all, who is that guy?"

The man in question had shaggy brown hair, a stupid looking eyepatch, and was dressed like he was ready for nuclear war. When she pointed in his direction the man seemed to get offended for some reason.

"That's Ronin." Jay answered helpfully. "We owe him money."

 _Oh good, they got into more mischief than I thought._

Artemis took a deep breath before speaking, "How much do you owe him?"

"Their whole stock in Borg Industries." Ronin replied with a smug look on his face.

She closed her eyes for a moment, rage nearly boiling over. "We'll deal with that later. Next question, how long was I possessed?"

"About four days." Zane answered.

"Cool, last question." Artemis pointed towards the elephant in the room. "How did Cole die, and why is he haunting us?"

Cole let out a bark of laughter, "I'm not dead!" He paused for a second and started blinking rapidly as if he had finally realized what happened. "I-I'm not dead? Am I? MASTER WU I'M NOT DEAD, RIGHT?"

While Wu was comforting Cole during his existential crisis, Kai finally confronted Artemis.

"Why did you stop me from taking the sword?"

"Because, while I was possessed, I managed to figure out where they're headed next." This statement caught everyone's attention.

"What do you mean?" Misako asked.

"What I mean is that while I was possessed, I was able to pick up bits and pieces of information. I know what the ghosts are after, but I don't really know why they want it…" As Artemis trailed off and began to think, Jay brought her back.

"Artemis," He waved a hand in front of her face, "what do they want?"

She was startled for half a second but recovered quickly. She had nearly forgotten that there where people around to explain things to. "Oh, uh, there's this crystal in the first masters tomb. I don't know what it does, but I know it's important."

"So, you know where we need to go then?" Nya asked, trying to clarify what she had just heard.

Artemis nodded and proceeded to explain the location the ghosts were headed to. As most everybody else began the process of charting the course, Artemis fell back into thought. She was only jostled out of it when Cole came up to talk.

"What're you overthinking this time?" He asked while leaning up against the banister she was also leaning on.

She waved a hand to dismiss the question. "Nothing really, just going over everything I heard again." Her eyebrows furrowed deeper and her gaze shifted from the floorboards to Cole's ghostly face. "Would you think I was insane if I said that I don't think Morro is the mastermind behind this plan?"

He scratched his head thoughtfully, "Well, on one hand, you're the sanist person I know. On the other hand, Morro is a pain in the ass. Honestly I think it would depend on your reasoning."

She sighed, and her gaze shifted back to the floor. "He never prepared for the possibility that you guys would get this far, it was always Rin who came up with the plan. The other ghosts followed her without hesitation, they never really respected Morro." Her eyes shifted again, this time looking ahead of her and watching the clouds roll by. "I don't think Morro is the bad guy here. Somebody else is pulling the strings and manipulating him in the process."

Cole blinked dumbly for a few seconds, as if her were trying to comprehend what Artemis was talking about.

"Well, while you test out that theory, I'm gonna punch Morro in the face because he's the reason I'm a ghost."

* * *

It took about a day to reach the strange rocky outcrop in the middle of the ocean, and a few hours longer to realize the entrance to the tomb was probably underwater.

Yay.

Artemis had changed into her new Gi at this point. It was designed in a similar fashion as the others. Each having accents of their corresponding color, and the hexagon piece on their chests depicting their patron god's familiar. Artemis was very happy to be out of those clothes that she had worn for nearly a week.

The five ninjas had made their way fairly deep into the underwater cavern. At the moment Kai was preoccupied with trying (and failing) to reach a golden staff, while everyone else tried not to get killed. Each move Kai made only made the situation worse, as pieces of the floor began to fall way to reveal a large cavern underneath them.

Yay.

As Cole came to the realization that this was probably a part of the tests the first master had set up, and that they didn't need the staff, Artemis had already jumped into the void.

Her cry of "Geronimo!" echoed back towards the men she had left behind.

The ice slide was terrifying yet exhilarating. It also reminded her of a similar scene in the first Ice Age movie.

While Artemis had managed to come to a graceful stop at the end of the ride, her friends were not as lucky. Jay slammed into the ice wall face first, cracking it slightly. Then, Kai rammed right into her surrogate brother, once again forcing Jays face back into the wall. The wall cracked even further. Cole was the next to zoom off the slide, he was curled into a ball his hands covering his eyes. While he should have smashed into the other two, he actually just phased right though them and the wall. Zane was the last to appear.

Kai and Jay had just managed to stand up on wobbly legs when Zane appeared at the end of the slide. The android slammed into the others, knocking them away like bowling pins, and went straight through the icy wall. There was a terrifying crunching sound upon impact, but the metallic body still managed to force its way through the material and slowly slide to a stop on the other side.

While Artemis struggled not to laugh, she helped up the bowling pins. Jay's nose looked like it had been broken twice, the amount of blood running down his face was the biggest hint. Kai didn't look too bad, but he winced several times as he stood, indicating that he probably broke a rib or two.

The three made their way through the hole that Zane had left behind. Sadly, the hole was not Zane shaped. Once on the other side they found Cole standing over a very damaged robot.

Thankfully, all of the damage was contained to his left side, the side that hit the ice head on. The left side of his face was caved in, and the ear on that side was missing. His left arm was also badly dented and was bending in a way arms should not bend.

As the small group all stood over him, Zane suddenly started producing several whirring noises and the dial-up tone. The icy blue light returned to his right eye and sparked feebly in the left. The nindroid slowly sat up with the help of Kai.

"How ya feelin'" Kai asked calmly. It sounded like he was trying not to scare off a skittish animal, but really wanted to laugh at the same time.

"Well, I seem to have lost audio and visuals on my left side. Also, my arm seems to be severely damaged." The nindroid reported.

The fire ninja took a quick look of their surroundings, Artemis followed suit. They were still surrounded by ice. "Do you think you could help us out with some of this ice?"

Thankfully when Artemis had regained control over her body the other four had also gotten back some of their elemental powers. Cole and Zane could do fairly simple things, while Jay and Kai could only manage sparks. They still needed Lloyd to complete the circuit.

Zane gave Kai a deadpan look, "Not unless you want me to run into it again."

Artemis lost it after that.

After several minutes of hysterical laughter, the group finally got up and really took in their surroundings. Upon closer inspection they weren't walled in by the ice, they were actually at the start of an elaborate maze. The ice walls were clean enough to even see your reflection.

As the group began to make their way through, making sure to stick close to each other, they began to notice a difference in the images that reflected back at them. Zane soon theorized that what was being shown was the future.

"OH COOL!" Jay shouted from a few feet away from the group, "I have an eyepatch!"

Artemis let out a laugh at his reaction as she moved forward. As she did, Artemis caught sight of someone in the glossy ice. When she stopped to look, her eyes went wide.

The woman standing before her wore a gorgeous kimono. It was a deep midnight purple that was embroidered with nearly every detail of the night sky. The thick belt of dark blue fabric tied around her waist was dappled with stars. Her brunette hair was up in a traditional bun, yet the hair piece that was in it was decorated with gems to look like a great comet. Silver eyes stared back at Artemis.

At first, she thought this was Selene, but they eyes caught her attention. In those silver pools were sparks of blue and a fire that would never die.

The woman standing in this reflection was Artemis.

"Oh hey! I do see something! It's kinda blurry but- OH SHIT ITS MORRO!"

Before Artemis could wonder why she would ever wear such an exquisite outfit, Cole screamed bloody murder and the ice in front of him shattered. Morro had jumped through the ice wall wielding the Sword of Sanctuary with a mad smile on his face.

"Finally. Now I don't have to go looking for you idiots." He sneered.

The ninja all pulled out their weaponry, and the men unconsciously formed a barrier in front of Artemis.

"Go find the tomb Artie," Jay said, "We'll hold him back."

"No, I'll hold him back." Artemis said, pushing her way through the line of men. There was a strange fire burning in her eyes. "You guys go find the McGuffin." Her tone left no room to argue.

After a few seconds, the four ninjas slowly began to back up, and when they were far enough, they took off, running further into the maze.

Morro began to laugh.

"You really think you can beat me?" the idea of this seemed particularly amusing to him.

"With two hands tied behind my back." She deadpanned. Artemis may have been holding a knife in both hands, starring directly at her opponent, but she was listening to the fading sound of footsteps. Once they had disappeared, Artemis straightened out of her fighting stance and sheathed her knives. "The only problem is, is that I don't want to fight you."

Morro gave her a confused look. "What?"

She sighed and gave the ghost an empathetic look. "Morro, their manipulating you."

He shifted uncomfortably, the confusion on his face deepening. "What are you talking about?"

"Whoever is in charge of this plan has been using you because of your connection to this plane. Their target was Wu from the start, and all you want to do is torment your old master because of how he treated your dream." Morro began to look panicked, like the whole world was crashing down around him. "You're also an elemental master, one of the few to ever be damned by the gods. Which also means you are bound to be angry, and ready to take any opportunity that may allow you to get revenge."

Morro dropped the sword and buried his hands in his hair. He was breathing heavily, eyes darting around rapidly trying to solve some invisible puzzle. Artemis slowly put up her hands, as if she were trying to calm a spooked horse.

"I can help you Morro." Her eyes never left his form. "I can get you to a better place."

Morro shook his head angrily and took a step backwards.

"You don't have to be angry anymore."

Green eyes locked on to Artemis, they were glowing with an unnatural energy.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN HELP ME!" Morro shouted angrily. He took a step forward this time, but his stance was anything but welcoming. "How on Atlas's green earth could you help me?"

"You've been through all of his memories, right?" She asked calmly. He nodded slowly. "Then you saw how he saved his dad. I can do that too."

Morro shook his head furiously, his offensive stance wilting. "No, that's Lloyds power."

Artemis shrugged and held a hand, "If he can do it, then so can I."

There were several moments of heavy silence. Then, Morro reached out with a hand that didn't belong to him and grabbed hers. Artemis smiled softly, then pulled Morro towards her. Suddenly, instead of holding a warm hand, she held nothing but a shadow.

* * *

 **Hello friends. I am really proud of this chapter. I worked really hard on it and I think it came out really well.**

 **Just an FYI, the ending of season five will change, as will the main antagonist and their reason for being an asshole. I'm not talking about Morro, i'm talking about the weird nighmare fule living hell they had in the show.**

 **Happy Valentines day my friends 3**

 **Remember, a review will always be apriciated, and I hope you enjoyed :D**


	46. More questions than answers

Artemis was no longer holding onto Lloyd's hand, she was holdings Morros'. His ghostly form had slipped out of the body easily.

The ghosts the ninja had encountered had been green and most of their bodies had been visible. Moro was now just a wisp of air. Blues and whites shaded what little of him was visible, which made it harder to discern him from the ice. The only visual she had of him was his forest green eyes.

The two of them looked at each other in amazement. Meanwhile Lloyd began to sway from side to side, then promptly fell face first on to the ground.

Morro stared at his translucent hands as Artemis moved to help Lloyd. "How did you do this?"

She rolled Lloyd on to his side and was pleased to see his skin and hair color returning to normal. As she lifted him up and draped one of his arms over her shoulders, she answered the wisp. "I just had a theory."

Morro's figure froze, becoming impossible to see. Her eye lost track of his form and nearly screamed when Morro's voice came from the other side of Lloyd. "You mean to say, that you risked this whole plan on a theory?"

"Well it worked. Didn't it?"

"Yeah but what if it didn't?" He asked impatiently. Morro moved to hold up the other side of Lloyd, but his arms passed right through the unconscious ninja's body. He gave an exasperated sigh and looked at Artemis. "What would you have done then?"

"Probably would've summoned Argentum to tear you out of him. That's how I got Rin out." Artemis stated nonchalantly as she started walking through the maze. "I thought it would be better to go the nicer route first."

"Wait," Morro gave her a confused look as he glided beside her, "who's Argentum?"

"Selene's wolf. He and his pack can drag the impurities out of any creature. Willing or not."

Morro nodded solemnly and began to lead her through the maze. After a few minutes they found the others walking in a circle.

After a second Jay noticed her. "Artie! You're okay!" The men raced over, and Jay offered to support Lloyd.

"Zane's navigation system is all fucked up, we're completely lost." Kai lamented angrily.

"How did you save Lloyd?" Cole asked. "And where's Morro?"

"I'm right here dumbass."

Cole followed the voice only to land on the nearly invisible ghost next to Artemis. The unoccupied ninja quickly fell into fighting stances.

Artemis rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Really guys? Morro's on our side now."

"Yeah," Morro echoed, "and I can get you idiots to the tomb."

As the four looked at each other warily, Lloyd took this moment to wake up slightly. His back straightened, eyes widened, and cheeks bulged. Half a second later Lloyd vomited all over Cole.

Cole was still fairly new at being a ghost and had yet to master phasing through solid objects. That skill would have been very hand at this moment as all of the bile landed on the Earth ninja and did not drop to the ground. Lloyd promptly fell back to unconsciousness.

Morro burst out laughing, "Holy shit, he's got good aim!" he said through peals of laughter. He calmed down after a second though and gave Cole a smug look. "But trust me dude, you deserved that."

At this comment the other guys began to chuckle too, as if they knew something Artemis didn't. A moment later Morro took the lead and they continued through the maze.

"Hey Morro," Kai ventured cautiously, "Why are you blue now?"

"Oh, my gods Kai! You don't just ask people why they're blue!" Jay said pointedly, but there was a smile on his face. Artemis snickered.

"Because I'm not a ghost anymore, I'm a wisp. Which means I can go to Asphodel and not back to hell." Morro explained politely. "Being a ghost means you either have unfinished business, or you have such a strong emotional connection to the mortal realm that they can't move on. I was judged poorly and was sent to Helheim, which automatically made me a ghost."

"May I ask why you already know the way through the maze?" Zane inquired.

"I found my way through, then I heard you guys smash something, and I figured that I should kill you guys first." He explained calmly. "So that you guys wouldn't get in my way."

As Morro said this the group came to the end of the maze and found a flight of stairs leading downward. The moment Artemis set foot in the tomb a shiver went up her spine, and a strange feeling moved through her. She wrapped her arms around herself as she moved deeper into the room.

Every pebble, boulder, bone, and ice shard was exactly where Artemis expected them to be. A strange sense of de-ja-vu washed over her.

 _Have I been here before?_

At that moment she noticed the others were gathered around a gravestone. A gravestone that had a skeleton laying next to it.

A cold feeling of dread consumed her. Artemis felt wrong being in this place. In fact, none of them should be here, they shouldn't have even been able to _find me._

She froze when that thought passed through her head, but quickly shook it away.

 _We don't have time to unpack all of that right now._

Against her better judgement, Artemis moved forward, wanting to inspect the gravestone. It wasn't much, just a few words carved into a boulder.

* * *

 _Takashi_

 _The First Spin-Jitsu Master_

 _When the sun and moon are separated_

 _When the dead walk the earth_

 _Only then will angels, demons, and gods will be welcome again._

* * *

"That." Morro pointed at the gravestone. "That is the reason she sent us here."

"Who sent you?" Zane asked.

"Hel. Goddess of Helheim."

Artemis gave Morro a confused look. He was slowly backing away from the grave, acting as if it were an angry dog about to bite him. "Why would Hel send you here because of some grave?" she asked sarcastically, not expecting an answer.

"Holy shit." Kai whispered, eyes bulging from his skull. "No way. No fucking way man." The fire ninja slow stood up and began to back away, mimicking Morro.

The others seemed to realize the same thing and began to follow. A few moments later Artemis was the only one standing near the grave.

"What are you superstitious idiots so concerned about? Afraid we'll wake the dead?" Artemis asked jokingly.

"Okay, with all the books you've read Artie, I'm really surprised you don't know what that poem means." Jay said, still holding onto Lloyd, who was beginning to wake up.

"You mean the poem that doesn't even rhyme." She asked condescendingly.

"That poem has the events that start Ragnarök." Kai said tensely.

"When the sun and moon are separated, when the dead walk the land, only then will angels and demons will lay waist to the earth by their hands." Morro recited calmly.

"I think something got lost in translation. The rock clearly says 'angels, demons, and gods will be welcome again.' There is nothing about death and destruction nonsense." For a reason that was beyond her understanding, Artemis felt adamant about her position. She was standing between them and the grave, as if she were protecting it.

"Artemis," Kai stepped forward, "Master Wu said that his dad died over a century ago. The prophecy of Ragnarök is way older than that rock. That poem was nailed into my head as a kid. This is really bad."

Artemis took a deep breath. "When did the first war against the Overlord happen?" When nobody answered her question, she did so for herself. "Over a thousand years ago. Who stopped the Overlord the first time?" She pointed at the grave. "Him. He predates that poem. And I don't care if he wrote that on his death bed, or when he was fantasizing about death"

"You don't get it." Morro said in a deadly tone. "Hel sent me here to do two things. One, get the realm stone so she can bring her army here. Two, kill either you or Lloyd. You guys are the closest thing Hel can get to the sun and moon right now and being separated by life and death is kinda permanent."

Silver eyes narrowed and her stance became firmer. Artemis pointed at the gravestone again, "What that man carved in to stone is the truth because neither of those things will _ever_ happen."

"Oh, my gods! We don't have time for this!" Cole shouted. "For all we know your ghostly pals could be looking for us! Let's just find the stupid thing and get out of here."

"Wait." Before Artemis could say anything, Lloyd interjected. "We shouldn't be here." His voice shook slightly, and was still leaning heavily on Jay, but at least he was awake.

"God's damn it! What is it now?" Cole asked angrily. Artemis watched as Cole's anger slowly began to make his body more visible.

Lloyd's eyes were tightly shut and was pressing the heel of one hand into his brow. "We aren't supposed to be here. Nobody was supposed to be able to find this place." There was a sharp intake of breath and Lloyd pressed his hand harder against his head. "Morro, you asshole, you fucked up my brain. None of this makes sense."

"Sorry."

Artemis had the urge to go over and help Lloyd, but the need to protect the grave was overtaking her.

"Lloyds right. I had the same feeling coming in." Her voice was shaky but calm. "Whatever that stone is, no matter what it does, it cannot leave this place."

"Artemis," now it was Morro's turn to calm the sacred horse, "If we don't take it then Rin will."

"For once you're correct Morro." The ninja froze as a silky voice spoke. They all turned their heads towards the stairs to see the imposing figures of Rin and her entourage. The smirk on her face showing off her fangs. "I will get the realm stone, and I will lead an army into battle once again."

* * *

 **Hello Friends! I am really proud of this chapter and I reall want to now what you guys think about it!**

 **If anyone can guess why Lloyd and Artemis are so persistant on leaving the realm stone at the grave, I will give you a cookie.**

 **Also, in my version of Ninjago i think that, like our world, there would be verrying degrees of religious faith. And I think Kai and Nya probably would have been raised in the equvalent of the USA Bible belt. Also there are probably some things that are always taught in schools, like the doomsday poem.**

 **Remember, a review is always appriciated, and I hope you enjoyed :D**


	47. Not Today Death

Nobody moved.

In that split second of silence Artemis glanced around the room. It was nearly circular, the uneven walls preventing perfect symmetry. The gravestone was on one side while the stairs and entryway were directly across from it. The ground was anything but smooth. There were several huge boulders taking up much of the space available, some might even block the view from the stairs completely…

Finally, she noticed the large crack in the wall behind the gravestone. It was just big enough for someone to squeeze through.

Then a glint of light caught her attention. The skeletons right hand was gripped tightly around something.

As that second passed, a plan formed in her head. She darted forward and whispered into her brothers' ear.

* * *

"Distract them."

The whisper had been barely audible, and Jay had nearly missed it. But thankfully he didn't.

He wondered for a moment what his sister could be up to but shook the thought out of his head. She had given him a job, so she must have a plan.

"I have a question." Jay said, making sure to be unnecessarily loud. "Why do you look like Garmadon? Are you related to him, or is it just a general curse to be butt ugly when you're evil?"

Rin was visibly taken aback, and as she recovered from the insulting question Jay could hear someone snickering beside him. When the ghost did recover, her expression just got angrier.

"You little insect." Her voice was dangerously low, and Jay knew that he had hit a nerve. "How dare you insult my kind. I am nothing like those insolent half breeds. I am far superior than you humans will ever be."

"Yeah but that doesn't answer my question though. I wanna know if that's a skin condition or if I rob a bank, I'll end up looking like a half-baked demon."

Her eye twitched and Jay smiled innocently.

"He has a point." Jay looked over to see Lloyd had now joined the fun. Apparently, he had caught on to the plan. "If you are related to my dad, then it would be useful to know if I'll end up looking like that someday."

Rin snarled at Lloyd. "Quite half breed."

"Why do you call him that? Its not a very nice thing to say to people." Kai interjected.

"Because that's what those two are. They are abominations that should be cleansed from this world before my Lord-" She stopped talking when she finally noticed Artemis walking in front of the group of ninja, quietly spreading a line of something on the ground. "What are you doing?"

Artemis stopped when she reached the wall. She straightened up and gave Rin a menacing grin. "It's called a salt-line bitch. You guys still have Supernatural in this world, which means salt and iron still work on ghosts." She held up the small pouch she had been carrying all day, which was now empty.

After his sister flipped Rin the bird, she gestured for the guys to follow her. While Rin and the other ghosts raged behind them, Artemis lead the group to a very narrow passage way. Jay wasn't particularly sure this would get them out, but he followed his sister. Thankfully by this time Lloyd could stand on his own.

It took them a while, but the pathway did manage to lead them outside, and somehow, they were now near the top of the stone spire that they had entered below sea level.

While everyone took in some fresh air, Artemis was still looking slightly panicked at the cave. "Guys we gotta keep moving." She said as she began to make her way down the side of the spire. Somehow finding the nearly invisible path with ease.

"I thought you trapped them?" Morro remarked.

"Nope. I was bluffing. Didn't have enough salt to cover the whole room and they've probably figured it out by now." She spoke quickly and ushered them to follow her.

"Wait, what about the stone?" Lloyd asked with wide eyes.

"Well I wasn't gonna leave it there."

* * *

A few minutes later they had made it back to the Bounty. Everyone kept asking her why she had changed her mind so quickly, but she had no answer for them.

When Rin had appeared, it was like Artemis had gone into auto pilot. Other than taking in her surroundings, she had completely frozen in place. Then some other force had invaded her mind and given her an idea.

 _Don't fight her, outsmart her._

When Artemis had seen the shine of the stone, she knew there was more to this than just traveling between realms. Her gut said that this stone must be protected until it was time to use it properly. Absentmindedly she pulled the realm stone out of her pocket. It was small, about the size of a bouncy ball, but instead of round it had twenty sides and a symbol carved in to each one.

"I can't believe you would do this." Her thoughts were interrupted when Lloyd spoke to her. He looked particularly perturbed. "I thought we agreed it should stay there."

"Rin would have taken it."

"We could have fought her and sent her back to hell." Lloyd crossed his arms, accentuating his point.

"Fighting doesn't solve everything." That odd feeling from the tomb was coming back to her.

"Fighting solves plenty of problems."

* * *

Artemis scoffed at this statement. "You are such a drama queen."

All activity on the Bounty had ceased when the argument between Artemis and Lloyd started. While most people were there the day the accident happened, there were a few who weren't. But even Wu, Misako, and Ronin could tell this was a dangerous route for those two.

But that wasn't what worried Kai. He knew that, even when they weren't together, those two would always fight like an old married couple. It had always been sort of charming, but this argument felt… different.

Kai knew Lloyd. He knew the kid would always try to talk people out of a fight before actually joining the fight. The rare exception was when everyone was in danger. He knew that Artemis was _always_ ready for a fight, even if nothing had happened in months.

Lloyd looked particularly offended at this comment. "Me? I'm the drama queen. I'm sorry have you seen your track record."

"You ran away from home. That's a bit of an overreaction if I've ever seen one."

"You know I had a good reason! What about that time at the fireworks festival?"

"That was Omar's idea and you know it!"

Now he was confused. What were they talking about? And are their eyes changing color?

Kai squinted and was surprised to see that yes, both sets of eyes were now different colors. Artemis's were a sky blue while Lloyd's had turned back to a crimson red.

"Oh please. Hiro told me he saw you lurking around the fireworks." Lloyd's tone had become far snarkier than Kai had ever heard it.

Kai glanced at his sister, a concerned look on his face. She glanced back with the same look. This was super weird.

Artemis opened her mouth to say something but withered when nothing came to mind. "Okay fine, I did cause that explosion, but you definitely overreacted when I died the first time."

"You did the same thing when that shadow bitch killed me."

"Okay, what about the platypus?"

Lloyds face went beat red all the way to the tips of his ears. "You swore that you would never mention that again." He said in a quiet voice.

 _Oaky,_ Kai mused to himself, _this is getting weird._

"GUYS!" Kai's shout seemed to bring them back to reality. As both blinked in confusion their eyes changed back into their normal colors. "What're you talking about?"

It was their turn to look confused.

Lloyd raised an eyebrow and gestured towards Artemis. "She called me a drama queen." He said this as if it explained everything.

"Yeah that part we heard, but then you two started talking about having died before." Cole explained carefully. "And you mentioned a couple of other people too. Hiro and Omar, I think."

The two glanced at each other then back to the group.

"No, we didn't."

* * *

"Okay then why were you two arguing like an old married couple?" Nya asked nonchalantly.

Artemis just rolled her eyes. "We've always argued like that." She saw a few of the guys nod in agreement.

This was weird. Artemis definitely knew that she and Lloyd had been arguing. She had called him a drama queen, providing him with the example of him running away from school. He retaliated by bringing up her habit of suppressing emotions. They had gone back and forth for a few minutes mentioning the Overlord, the Devourer, a snow day, and birthdays. Neither had mentioned Pythor or the island, they both knew better than to open up those haunted closets.

Somehow, their argument had translated differently to the others.

"Really?" Nya raised an eyebrow this time. "Because this didn't seem like one of your normal arguments, plus your last argument didn't look like this."

"I overreacted." Lloyd stated simply, then gestured to him and Artemis. "This is a civil discussion between two adults."

"You mean an adult and a fifteen-year-old." Kai muttered quietly, but not quietly enough.

Lloyds face fell flat, and he calmly walked up to the fire ninja. Kai froze. Lloyd picked up Kai with relative ease and threw him off of the Bounty. Thankfully, they were sailing back as a conventional ship rather than flying. Nya was able to help her brother back on board with her newly awakened elemental powers.

As Kai and Lloyd started to play fight on the deck, Artemis took this opportunity to go and clean up. Her shoulder was beginning to ache again.

 _That's what I get for having a celestial wolf rip a ghost out of me._ She thought ruefully.

After changing into some more comfortable clothing, she made her way to the kitchen to make a sandwich. Cole was already in there when she arrived, leaning against the counter.

"Hey."

He nodded back in response.

There were a few moments of silence while Artemis worked on her masterpiece. Once she sat down, delectable sandwich in hand, Cole began to speak.

"Hey, um, there's something I wanna talk to you about." For some reason he sounded nervous. He moved to sit opposite of her, and Artemis saw a slight discoloration on his ghostly cheeks. Cole only started speaking when she nodded for him to continue.

* * *

Lloyd and Kai had stopped messing around when they nearly ruined the navigation system. Zane dismissed them from the deck, telling them to go bother Artemis instead. Morro had followed them. Lloyd suspected that he wasn't ready to talk to Wu yet.

They were headed towards the kitchen and Kai was giving Lloyd a noogie. Well, he was attempting to, as Lloyd had somehow become taller than him.

"You reek man." Kai said as he playfully shoved him away.

"I was possessed for a week, I don't think taking a shower was…" Lloyd trailed off when he heard voices coming from the kitchen. It was Cole, and he was talking to someone. Luckily the door was opened just wide enough to see Artemis sitting at the table and telling Cole to continue speaking.

"Look, um, I-" Cole paused to clear his throat. "I really like you."

"Thanks?"

"No, I mean I really like you. You're the most amazing person I know. It physically hurts me when you get upset and it nearly killed me when you got possessed by the Overlord, kidnapped, then possessed again." Cole paused again and sighed. "I'm telling you now because I'm 99% sure that I'm dead and I really regret not saying anything when I was alive."

"Thank you for telling me." Was the last thing Lloyd heard before he walked away, making a beeline for the bunks.

He barely registered slamming the door open, startling Jay out of his book, barely registered leaning against a wall sliding downwards into a sitting position, then curling up into a ball.

He should have guessed that Cole would do something like this. That Artemis would gladly look to someone else for happiness.

 _But why now?_

"What happened?" he heard Jay whisper.

"Sasquatch confessed to Sailor Moon." Morro replied.

"Shit."

Suddenly, Kai was sitting next to him and wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "It's gonna be okay kid."

* * *

"Thank you for telling me Cole."

This was the most awkward situation Artemis had ever been in, and that was all she could think of to say.

Nobody had ever confessed their feelings so blatantly towards her before. Sure, Lloyd had said something similar before the first fight with the Overlord, but that was somehow much different than the situation she now found herself in. That experience had felt natural and… somehow cosmically right. This was just awkward.

"But I don't feel the same way about you."

His expression fell but nodded solemnly. "Is it because you still have feelings for Lloyd?"

She shook her head. "I don't know how to feel about Lloyd right now. He's someone I know I can't live without, but it's hard to trust him again." Artemis took a deep breath and reached out to hold Cole's hand. Thankfully it didn't phase through. "You're a really good friend Cole, you're like a brother to me. I'm sorry if I mislead you."

He shook his head and pulled his hand away, leaning backwards in his chair. "It's not your fault. I should have gotten over you when you and Lloyd were together, but I couldn't. I guess I just fell to hard for your singing." He gave her a sad smile, stood up, and moved towards the door. "See you later"

"See ya."

* * *

 **This was a daunting chapter to write, lots of persepective changes. But I really like this chapter.  
Now, I would love to see if any of you have theories about whats gonna happen and whats going on with Artemis and Lloyd. THat would be awesome.**

 **Remember a review is always appreciated and I hope you enjoyed :D**


	48. Hello Death

"You do know Rin won't stop until she gets that thing, right?" Morro said for the millionth time while gesturing to the Realm stone.

The whole group was gathered o the bridge of the ship. They needed a plan, and now was a good time as any to come up with one. The realm stone was sitting on the center table for all to see.

"Why don't we just hide it again?" Jay suggested.

"It was hidden, look how well that turned out." Kai said pointedly.

"What does happen if ghost lady gets her grubby fingers on this anyway?" Ronin asked. His one visible eye gleamed excitedly at the stone. It looked as if he might explode if he didn't get the chance to touch it soon.

"The end of the world." Zane said calmly as Nya fixed his damaged face.

Ideas continued to be thrown around the room for a few more minutes. During that time Artemis stared at the stone, her mind going a mile a minute.

Before anyone noticed the conversation was back on Rin.

"She's Hel's second. She's been there longer than any ghost I know of, there is no one Hel trusts more."

Something clicked in her brain.

"That's it." Artemis mumbled to herself, everyone turned to expecting a plan. "What if Hel isn't the one who thought of starting Ragnarok? What if she was being manipulated just like Morro was?"

"Why do you say that?" Lloyd asked.

"Rin seemed pretty interested in starting Ragnarok, what if she's behind it?" Artemis asked, more to herself than the others.

"She did mention something about being a different species, right?" Jay stated, those who were present during that exchange nodded. "What if she wants to bring her people back?"

"If we're gonna fight an army, be it ghosts or demon people, then we're gonna need help." Kai stated simply. And while everyone else thought about which elemental masters they should contact Artemis caught the subtle look Kai gave her.

Her expression turned sour, and she shot back; "I can ask for advice not _help_."

Suddenly, everyone caught on to what Kai meant.

Kai sighed and crossed his arms, "Artemis, this isn't time to hold petty grudges. We're talking about the end of the world."

"No." Her voice was iron clad, but the others kept pushing.

"He's right Artie." Jay said in a small voice. As her expression hardened further, she turned her gaze away from her friends.

"We'll need any advantage we can get." Cole supplied.

Her head whipped around, fury growing rapidly.

"This isn't about a grudge Kai, or an advantage. Selene possessed me, plain and simple. The other primordials can do that too. I am the only thing that lets them interact with this world, and I'm not gonna let that happen again." While her voice was steady, it was also laced with barbed wire, daring anyone to challenge her place. "Those guys are not benevolent gods. If I let one of them possess me, they could kill all of you, because they don't care about us. I won't let anyone else get killed because of me."

"What do you mean?" Lloyd asked carefully.

For the first time in months, Artemis was speaking about what happened on the island, letting other people see how much it had affected her. She faltered for a moment, her mind already beginning to retreat back into itself. She had refused herself the luxury of sharing her feelings for so long, but they needed to know.

She took a deep breath and began to speak, her voice wavering slightly. "I saw you fighting Lloyd, you were about to be stabbed and…" Her voice trailed off for a second. "I had to protect you, no matter what. So, I opened the door, asked for power, and Selene gave it to me. But I was too scared to go back alone, and nearly a hundred people _died_ because of that. I can't let that happen again."

There were a few moments of heavy silence. The realization that Artemis did actually blame herself for that catastrophe had hit everyone in the gut. Even Artemis herself was having a hard time stopping herself from crying.

Nya was the first to break the silence. "Artemis, I wont force you to do that. But…" there was another second of silence as she planned out the rest of that sentence, "some advice from the gods would be really helpful."

Artemis gave her friend a watery smile, "Get me back to Ninjago City and I'll see what I can do."

* * *

"Sorry kid, can't help ya." The flaming god said with little apathy.

Artemis rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time and scoffed. "Thanks Fire Lord Ozai, no more pizza sacrifices for you."

Before she could hear the fire god protest, Artemis exited the void trance. She huffed indignantly and shifted out of the uncomfortable position she had been in for the past few hours. The excessive, and itchy, vestments making the job no easier.

Jupiter and Xiuhtecuhtli had been no help what so ever, having no sympathy for her questions, dismissing her almost immediately. Skaidi and Atlas also held no qualms over ignoring her questions either. Selene and Helios had been unresponsive to any of her calls. Apparently, they _could_ ignore her.

Artemis heard the paper door slide open and someone step into the room. Assuming it was the acolyte who usually helped her (many of the others refused to believe she had been ordained by the gods), Artemis began to speak freely.

"I'm fine Sarah, I don't need a break. I mean a sandwich would be nice, it takes a lot of energy to put up with all of their bullshit. But, no, I can't stop, I still have questions that need answers, and they haven't figured out how annoying I can be yet."

"Really? Because instead of knocking on doors that wont open, might I suggest listening to the answers I might provide?" The voice that answered her was not Sarah's, it was much too deep. Artemis slowly turned around and was greeted with the sight of a tall man.

Somehow, he was taller than Cole. But instead of having obvious muscle, this man was lean and wiry. His skin was so pale that it almost seemed gray in the soft light, but it was in stark contrast to his jet-black hair and void black suit. Although his hair was marred with gray streaks, and the crinkles of age by his eyes and mouth, there was a sort of timeless feel to him. Even if you noticed those small human details about him, they would be immediately overlooked by the colors that seemed to bounce off of him, the reds and blues creating duel images of him, making it harder to focus on the details.

What startled Artemis the most though was not the obvious power that flowed off of the man like waves, but his eyes. Beneath the 3D effect, she could see that his irises were a slate gray that refused to catch any of the light in the room.

This was no man.

* * *

While Artemis worked her magic at the Temple, the other ninja were lounging at her apartment. Wu, Misako, and Ronin were flying the bounty around the city. They had left the stone with the ninja, hoping to distract Rin and lead her on a wild goose chase.

It had been half a day, it was now nearing midnight, since they had left the tomb of the first master, and even less time since Lloyd had over heard Cole's confession to Artemis.

At the moment Cole was leaning against a wall, Lloyd directly across from him leaning on the side of the couch. The younger man was currently bouncing a tennis ball against the wall and back to himself, through the others ghostly body. All the while glaring daggers at the earth ninja, silently daring him to call Lloyd out.

They had been waiting for about two hours. He and Cole had been in this position the entire time. Apparently, ghosts don't get tired when they stand for too long. The others had been subtly ignoring the situation by watching a sit-com on TV.

Finally, Cole caught the ball just as it was about to pass through his face again. "Okay, who told you?"

Lloyd shifted from sitting on the floor, to leaning against the arm of couch. "We're ninja, eavesdropping is part of the job."

The other four in the room, ignored the conversation, focusing more intently on the tv screen. Morro, however, watched the situation like a hawk, and was trying to grab some popcorn that Kai had made (sadly it kept slipping through his hand).

"Then you know why I told her." Cole said simply.

"Yeah, hope you two are happy together." That sounded less bitter in his head.

Cole's anger flared at that statement, his body becoming more solid as his rage became more apparent. "You idiot! I can't have her if I'm DEAD."

It was Lloyds turn for his anger to take over. In that split second, Lloyd grabbed one of the knives Artemis had hidden in the couch. Just as Cole's body became intangible, he threw the knife at the ghosts' head. The force of the throw lodging the blade deep in the wall between Cole's eyes.

There were a few gasps form their audience, an "oh shit" coming from Morro, but they were ignored.

"You're the idiot if you think she's an object." Lloyds voice was dangerously low, fiery rage burning in his golden eyes.

Before anyone could do anything else, the door to the apartment opened, Artemis emerging from the other side.

"I have found the solution to all of our problems!" She said excitedly. There was a lightness to her voice that Lloyd hadn't heard for a long time, and the smile on her face was practically contagious. He could feel the corners of his mouth tugging upward. Then she stepped aside to reveal a stranger. A wave of power washed over Lloyd, the smile vanished from his face, and he stiffened automatically.

The strangers voice was low and gravely, almost like two rocks being scraped together. "I am Hades, god of the – "

"Death." Kai interrupted, going very pale as he said that word. "Holy shit that's the god of death." At this revelation Kai fell out of his seat and scrambled to get behind the arm chair he had been sitting in. The Sudden movement caused the bowl to tip and spill popcorn all over the floor. Nya followed suit, while Jay, Zane, and Cole were frozen. Morro just slowly drifted behind Lloyd, trying to hide.

The god let out an irritated sigh, "No, I am not. Though he is a good friend of mine." He stepped further into the apartment. His shoulders were slumped and there were dark circles under his eyes. "I am Hades, Lord of the Underworld, and god of the dead." Kai peaked out from behind the chair as if to say something but was interrupted by Hades. "Yes, there's a difference."

Before he could say anything else though, Artemis noticed the knife in her wall. "Hey, who fucked up my wall?"

"I'll fix it later." Lloyd said without hesitation. She glared form a moment, the nodded. Artemis had a bad habit of throwing things at people when they snuck up on her, which wasn't all that often. But the boys had made it a game to see who could sneak up on her, eventually it evolved into a training exercise. In response Lloyd had become particularly good at fixing walls.

"Anyway…" The god continued speaking, "for the past forty years my wife and I have lived in the mortal realm. Still conducting our proper business, mind you, but even gods get bored." Hades moved away from the doorway, which Artemis closed, and took a seat at the kitchen table. "But, about a week ago I discovered that I am locked out of my domain. Then, I start hearing tales of ghosts wreaking havoc on the living." The deity raised glance at Morro, who hid further behind Lloyd.

"My daughter has apparently taken control of the Underworld, with the intention of starting Ragnarok." Hades glanced at Artemis and sighed as if he were remembering something painful. Then his posture straightened, eyes hardening with determination. "I promised an old friend that I would prevent Ragnarok at any cost."

"Wait." Kai interrupted once more, slowly coming out form his hiding spot, "so Ragnarok is the end of the world?"

Hades sighed once more. "Yes and no. Ragnarok could either bring eternal peace or eternal destruction." The deity turned to look at Lloyd. "The First Spin-jitsu Master was the one to coin the prophecy. There had been great turmoil among all beings at that time, and the battle that nearly ensued was erased from history."

Before anymore questions could be asked the god cleared his throat and straightened his posture. "Enough of that. I have come to borrow the Realm Stone, so I may convince my daughter that this is the wrong path to take."

* * *

Several hours later the trap was set, and everyone was in position.

Lloyd and Artemis were currently sitting in her bedroom on opposite sides play catch with the tennis ball from earlier.

Lloyd had lightened up significantly since that afternoon, but was still, by most standard, down in the dumps. He could tell Artemis had noticed because she had that concerned look on her face that always meant trouble. The blond prayed to any god that would listen that Artemis would not try and talk to him about this, not right now at least.

"What's had your panties in a twist all day?" She asked while throwing him the ball.

 _Ah fuck._

He caught the ball with ease and threw it back. "Nothing, just pissed that Morro managed to possess me." At least that wasn't a total lie. He hated lying to her.

She raised an eyebrow, "Anything to do with that private talk you had with Hades earlier? 'Cause you came back looking paler than me." The joke fell flat, but was appreciated, nonetheless.

Of course, she would figure it out. They could read each other like books.

This time when Lloyd caught the ball, he held onto it, looking at the fuzzy sphere intently. "He just told me that despite everything that he did, my dad actually was judged well enough to receive entrance into Folkvangr." He smiled at the thought of this, but in his head the conversation with the god played out once again. _Hades also said a lot of other stuff too._

" _Lloyd, your father never had the chance to tell you this. And because his father was a very good friend of mine, I decided to pass on this message." Hades said calmly. The god had asked to speak with him, and the two were now in Artemis's bedroom._

" _Your grandparents were very different. They weren't exactly…" the Lord of the Underworld paused for a moment deliberating over his words, "human. They were mortal, but never human."_

 _There was no chance for Lloyd to ask any questions, as the deity kept talking. "The were… born a short while after the beginning of the Second Age, after Selene and Helios were wed. Your grandfather lived well into the Third Age and died only half a century ago. They both had extremely long lifespans, which was inherited by their children, and so on."_

" _Are you saying I'll live for like 200 years?" Lloyd asked jokingly. He knew about the insanely long-life span that his family had, but it hadn't seemed to affect him yet._

" _Possibly. But there is another thing you must know. Age affected them differently too. Your grandfather may have been nearly two thousand years old, but he only looked like he was 70, at the most. What your father wanted you to know is that age is a very tricky thing with your family. Garmadon and Wu grew up very slowly, it took them nearly a century for them to reach adulthood. That would have been the same case for you, if not for the Tomorrows tea."_

 _Once the god began to explain, it was like a gushing river of information that wouldn't stop. As much as Lloyd wanted to ask more questions, his voice would not answer his call. What Hades said next cause Lloyd to lose all the air in his lungs, and nearly the food in his stomach._

" _Garmadon wanted you to know how truly old you are. He was never sure what year you were born, but he knows that you're around twenty, give or take a few years."_

Lloyds gaze shifted from nothing back to Artemis, and he gave her a half smile. He needed to tell her, and he planned to. But for now, they had bigger problems, the sounds of fighting had started in the living room.

* * *

Artemis and Lloyd immediately jumped into fighting positions, ready to corner their target.

Suddenly, distinct ghostly figure flew through the door, as if she had been thrown. Artemis raced over to the entrance and quickly drew a line of salt.

The ghost sat up slowly, revealing horns, fangs, four arms, and blood red eyes. Rin was trapped.

The demon woman stood up, noticed who she was with and gave a delighted laugh. "Even in death my Lord still has gifts to give." She said with a cruel smile. "Not only were you foolish enough to set this up for us, but now I can complete the other half of my mission now."

With neck-breaking speed, Rin lunged towards Lloyd and phased into his body. He fell to the ground with a loud thump and began spasming uncontrollably. Artemis should have rushed over to help him, but all she could do was stare wide eyed at the scene before her. A few seconds passed and the movements stopped. Her heart ached to rush over to help her friend but knew that would do nothing.

Lloyd stood up slowly and was soon using his full height to tower above her. Blood red eyes gleamed menacingly at her.

The imposter smirked, "And what better way to complete this by have one kill the other?" While his voice was still masculine, there was a smoothness to it that made every hair on Artemis's body stand on end.

The now possessed Lloyd shot forward aiming o grab his smaller opponent. But being so short had its advantages.

She darted across the room and his behind the side of her bed. She quickly reached down inside herself, searching for the power of the wolf. But she was yanked back into reality when Rin picked her up and threw her into the wall. Artemis landed on her dresser with a heavy thud.

Before she could do anything, the possessed Lloyd picked her up, shoved her up against the wall, both hands wrapped around her neck. Her hands flew to his wrists in a vain attempt to dislodge them, but it was no use. If it was a fight based on raw strength, Lloyd had the advantage.

"Soon my Dark Lord will return, and all will be right with the world." Rin's voice echoed through Lloyd's, her joy clear as day. "The humans will be put in their proper place, and I will have a new army to lead."

Artemis stared into Lloyds eyes, the blood red color distorting them greatly. The constricting force on her throat reminded her of the heavy burden of what had happened earlier that year. The lives that had been lost because of her selfish desire, the loss of an important figure in Lloyds life, and the loss of her heart.

In that moment, Artemis realized something. She didn't care if she died. She deserved it after what happened. It would be so easy to just give in and let Rin finish her off…

But she couldn't do that. Not when it was Lloyds hands around her neck. Artemis knew that he would never forgive himself if this is how it ended. He would be shattered completely if he lost her too.

As she came to this conclusion, Artemis watched as Lloyds eyes slowly shifted back to gold. He quickly let go, causing Artemis to fall forward and begin coughing vehemently. Lloyd caught her before she could fall face first on to the floor and gently guided her to lean against the wall.

When she looked up to see what had pulled Rin out of his body, she was greeted with a strange sight.

Rin was kneeling before three people, one of whom was Hades. The woman to his left was wearing almost all black, like she had just stepped out of HOTTOPIC. Her makeup was deliberately dark and menacing, and an unlit cigarette was held in her mouth.

To his right was a woman who looked to be no older than in her late twenties. Her blonde hair was cut in a short bob and flowers pinned some hair behind an ear. She wore a sweater vest, jeans, and sandals. In fact, her whole ensemble gave of a soccer mom vibe. But her expression was unnerving. The smile on her face showed anything but kindness, and her vibrant green eyes were pinned on the ghost before her.

"Rin, Leader of the Onyx army," Hades began to speak in a calm tone, "you were judged once before. The Council deemed your punishment equivalent for the crimes you committed. We now see that we were wrong."

For once Rin shrank in fear, unable to defend herself.

"The crimes you have committed in the past week will now be considered into your new punishment." Hades was about to continue when the woman to his right spoke up.

"I vote evisceration. Her kind was meant to be forgotten during the Third Age, we destroyed all the other spirits, why not just send her along with them?" The Soccer mom aura faded quickly from that woman and was quickly replaced with the image of someone who didn't like to be crossed.

The goth woman smiled, "I agree with mom on this one. She went against me, and that's punishable by death."

Hades sighed dramatically, "We can't just force her to roll a rock up a hill for all eternity?" The women both gave the god a pointed look. He sighed once more, then took a step forward.

"Rin for the crimes you have committed your spirit shall now be expunged from the Underworld, and this reality entirely. Good bye." Hades snapped his fingers and Rin's spirit slowly faded away. He then turned to the two mortals frozen in terror and gave a half-hearted smile. "Sorry about that. It took me a little longer to find Hel than I initially thought it would."

The next few moments were the strangest Artemis had ever witnessed. Hel left the bedroom (the others followed) and dismissed the remaining ghosts with ease. She raised an eyebrow at Cole and quickly told him that he was in fact not dead, just under a curse. The second woman turned out to be Hades wife Kore, goddess of spring and a joyous afterlife, and it turns out she was generally a very nice person. It was unnerving how her attitude could shift so quickly.

After a few minutes of exchanging information and pleasantries, Hades turned to Artemis and handed her the realm stone. "Hide it well," was all the god said before saying it was time to leave. A portal opened in her living room and the gods passed through it. Morro began to follow, but stopped, turned and waved goodbye to his new friends.

* * *

 **Let me just say, that I am super rpoud of this chapter. This chapter is not only a gift to you guys but also as a reward to myself for finishing a paper that was due.**

 **Now, if you want some context for music, i would listen to Evermore from Beauty and the Beast, then once the fighting starts You Say Run an instrumental peice from My Hero Academia.**

 **It might be a while befor the next chapter is up. I have finals in a couple weeks and then I'm off for the summer. So, knowing me, I'll probably write the new chapter as soon as possible and post it before I have an assignment due, then I wont do anything over the summer. Hopefully that is not the case.**

 **I'd love to know what you guys thought of season 5, and am also curious what you think will happen in season 6.**

 **Remember, a review is always appericiated, and I hope you enjoyed :D**


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